Srinagar, Mar 25: Valley’s apex industrial chamber, the Federation Chamber of Industries Kashmir (FCIK), has sharply reacted to the petition filed by the Power Development Department before JK State Electricity Regulatory Commission for increase in the tariff for electricity supplied to the industrial units besides some other categories of consumers.
 President FCIK, Shakeel Qalander told Greater Kashmir that the documentary evidence for justifying the hike was far away from the factual position.
 He said all the industrial units in the state, both in organized and unorganized sectors, were properly metered and were already paying according to their consumption. “Whereas out of 22, 84,607 consumers, only 1.5 to 2 lakh in categories other than industry are metered,” he added.
 Qalander said the misuse of power by domestic and commercial consumers, troopers and government employees had forced the PDD to overdraw power from the Northern Grid at exorbitant rates.
  “The receiving stations in Kashmir either do not possess meters or are installed with faulty meters, thus making it impossible for the PDD to ascertain the actual quantity of power transmitted to them,” he said.
 The bunkers of security forces, he said, consumed hundreds of mega watts of power without actually paying for the same. Besides, the government employees on Darbar Move were paying only Rs 50 per month against consumption of huge quantities of electricity, he said.
 He said the transmission lines and grid stations used for transmission and distribution of power did not have the capacity to take load of the quantity of electricity having shown as consumed in Kashmir , leading to the unscheduled curtailment of power and low voltage.
 Qalander said the inefficiencies of the department had been loaded on the “honest” consumers. “The power purchased by the PDD at double rates during peak hours of morning and evening is also loaded to the tariff charged from the industry that does not use it at all during these hours,” he said.
 He said the cost per unit of energy shown by the PDD was loaded with illegal consumption of electricity by 10,56,556 unregistered consumers in domestic and commercial categories. “The illegal connections of 10,13,752 that account for 50 per cent of domestic and commercial consumers do not pay anything to the department,” he added.
 FCIK president appealed J&K State Electricity Regulatory Commission to dismiss the petition filed by the PDD in respect of hike in tariff demanded from industrial units.
 He said that the incentives promised by the state government in terms of industrial policy of 2004 were only on paper and not implemented in letter and spirit.
  “Whereas the said industrial policy envisages for providing power facility to industrial units at subsidized rates, they are forced to pay for the inefficiencies of PDD and pilferages undertaken by consumers other than industrial units,” he said.
 He said the industry in Kashmir was already facing various hardships in competing with the units of other states, for more than 95 per cent of the industrial units in Kashmir were scattered at various locations outside organized industrial estates in all the districts. These units, with scheduled and unscheduled power cuts, on an average get power supply for merely two to three hours that too of very low voltage, he said, adding that power curtailments restrict these units from having increased productivity and profits.
  “Because of the deficiency in the basic infrastructure and lack of protection from the government both in pre-production and post-production conditions, the units here in general have not shown any sign of growth and promotion,” he said.

Lastupdate on : Thu, 25 Mar 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
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