Jammu, Aug 6: The Power Development Department is all set to try out nearly 5000 Meter Reading Instruments, which it has procured under the Accelerated Power Development Reforms Programme, to check the tempering with e-meters.
 According to sources, the department had brought these Meters about two year back, but in the absence of the trained manpower, it was still relying on the manual method to take meter reading, which left field open for wrong bills and in some cases allowed the people to bribe the staff engaged in revenue recovery.
 Every instrument will be used per 500 families, and will give exact power usage data of the consumers. A Line inspector said the Meter would be directly connected with the e-meter and would download the actual reading on the instrument without leaving any chance of tampering as happens in case of manual meter checking. The instruments then download the data in the computer without resorting to cumbersome exercise of jotting down on registers, he added.
 “The Meters were procured with the e-meters and were to be used to check the tampering and to get correct reading, but these were never issued to the field staff negating their purpose,” an official associated with revenue recovery said adding “now these are being introduced as a section of the staff has been trained in handling these”.
 When contacted, the Chief Engineer Muhammad Qasim said the department was facing some problem in the usage of the equipment. Steps are being taken to train the concerned staff and issue instruments he said adding “more steps are being taken to modernize the department”.
 Pertinently, nearly six lakh e-meters have been installed in J&K since the power reforms were initiated by the government in 2005, after mounting pressure from the centre and Northern Grid. The aim of the reforms was to check the electricity misuse and make the revenue recovery a norm among the people.
 Official sources said new 24-hour call centre cum grievance cells to register the complaints from the people and make staff more accountable would start working from this year. The cells will be established at district level with all the latest equipment like dedicated phone lines, computers, faxes and separate staff so that they can register and take necessary steps to solve the consumers problems, who have to face tough time to get their problems redressed, they said.
 Though various steps have been taken by the government to streamline the power distribution network in the state and generate revenue, but most of the localities are facing frequent power cuts, which has worsened the situation in the city.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 6 Aug 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 6 Aug 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 7 Aug 2010 00:00:00 IST