Srinagar, Oct 10: The Power Development Department (EM&RE), Kashmir has realized highest ever revenue of Rs. 174. 43 crore up to September this fiscal which is about 128 per cent higher than the revenue collected during the corresponding period last fiscal. The revenue realized up to September last fiscal was only Rs. 76.33 crore.
 This was stated at a high level meeting held here today to review revenue realization on account of power supply in Kashmir division.
 Minister for Finance and Ladakh Affairs, Abdul Rahim Rather presided.
 The government has set an ambitious target of about Rs 800 crore to be collected on account of energy supply to the consumers in Kashmir division during the current financial year.
 The meeting was attended by the Economic Advisor to Government, Jalil Ahmed Khan, Commissioner Secretary Finance, Sudhanshu Panday, Commissioner Secretary Power, Basharat Ahmed Dhar, Secretary Technical Power, Asgar Ali Majaz, Director General Budgets, Magotra, Development Commissioner Power, Manzoor Ahmed Salroo, Chief Engineer, EM&RE, Kashmir, Muzaffar Matoo, Chief Engineer , EM&RE, Jammu, Shehnaz Goni, Superintendent Engineers and Executive Engineers of various power divisions of Kashmir.
 It was informed that 1433 consumers were added during first two quarters of the current fiscal raising the total number of consumers from 6,87,651 in March 2011 to 7,01,981 by the end of September 2011. This has resulted in additional load of 17.67 MW of power raising the load from 668.54 MW in March 2011 to 686.21 MW till September 2011.  The Power Development Department has almost completed computerization for issuing computerized bills to the consumers.
 The required hardware has been procured for 68 power sub-divisions, of which, 66 sub-divisions have been commissioned, an official statement said.
 It was informed that the department has conducted 14,996 inspections during first two quarters of the current fiscal to check misuse of power. A fine to the tune of about Rs. 60 lakh has been imposed on defaulters.
 Speaking on the occasion, the Minister underscored the need to improve the power tariff collections efficiency to increase the level of revenue collection. He also called for month wise monitoring of revenue realization adding that the engineers of the PDD have to play a role of energy managers to strike a balance between energy supply and revenue realization. 

Lastupdate on : Mon, 10 Oct 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 10 Oct 2011 18:30:00 GMT
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