Jammu, Sept 10:  The Power Development Department (PDD) has warned its employees of dire consequences if they fail to collect the revenue and achieve the specified targets.       

 Sources told Greater Kashmir that PDD has told its employees that if they fail to accomplish their tasks their promotions could get delayed or they can be transferred to far-off places.  

 “The government has been reprimanding the PDD time again for failing to achieve targets. This time government has asked the PDD to take stern action against its officials who are either non-performers in realizing the revenue from their divisions and zones or indulge in malpractices,” sources said.

 The Minister of Finance Abdul Rahim Rather, according to the sources, had recently headed a review meeting and conveyed his displeasure over low revenue collection. 

 “The PDD officials at zonal and division level have the responsibility to collect the revenue and achieve the targets. Now, no lethargic attitude will be tolerated and they will have to explain why targets are not met”, Minister of State for Power Shabir Ahmed Khan said.

 “Though we have somewhat improved the collection in the past few years, but still there is deficit. Target collection will have direct impact on the service book of employees. Whatever is their duty they have to perform”, sources said.
 The power purchase bill, according to sources, is likely to cross Rs 25,000 crore this fiscal.

 In 2008, PDD was able to collect just Rs 733 crore, while the target was Rs 1,031 crore. In 2009, the total recovery was Rs 900 crore while the target was Rs 1500 crore. The big problem for the department is to recover Rs 28 crore from the government departments, sources added.

 Every year PDD has the target of nearly Rs 1500 crore as revenue, but they are able to recover just Rs 600 to Rs 800 crore, due to which state has to face the wrath of the Union Power Ministry every now and then.

 Power sector is a major headache for the J&K, as state has to divert crores of rupees every year to keep the power supply stable.

 Another worry is the higher Transmission and Distribution losses, which has reached nearly 72 per cent from 40 per cent in just 5-years.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 11 Sep 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 11 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 12 Sep 2010 00:00:00 IST