Srinagar, July 18: In a glaring instance of laxity in the Power Development Department (PDD), the state exchequer has suffered losses worth millions of rupees on account of replacement of around 30,000 ‘defective’ electric meters in the Valley.
Highly placed sources told Greater Kashmir that the faulty electric meters installed by PDD in different areas of the Valley, particularly in Srinagar had to be replaced due to their abnormal functioning during winters.
“Around 30,000 defective electric meters have been replaced as these showed lower reading during winters due to sharp decrease in temperature,” they said, adding that it has caused loss of nearly Rs 4.5 crore to the state exchequer as all these faulty meters had to be dumped.
“The installation of each meter costs us around Rs 1500 and replacement of around 30000 meters amounts to around Rs 4.5 crore,” they added.
According to the sources, PDD had procured one lakh defective meters in 2001 at exorbitant rates and 50000 of the said  lot were to be installed each in Srinagar and Jammu.
“They were purchased at higher rates and their original market price was around Rs 700 each,” they added.
Pertinently, PDD has installed around three lakh meters in the Valley with several areas still without meters. Although the state government has kept several deadlines for metering entire Valley but it has failed to meet the same.
An official said, the faulty lot was purchased by PDD without requisite testing before procurement.
“In other states, different agencies test meters before procurement and installation, but it seems that no such exercise was conducted here by officials of PDD,” he said.
He added that the procurement deal needs thorough probe and investigation to find how the officials of PDD committed serious blunder of not testing the meters before their installation.
Not only squandering public money, replacement of meters also triggered widespread resentment among public in the Valley. People in several areas staged protests and resisted the attempts to install new meters as they feared that they will show higher reading.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 18 Jul 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 18 Jul 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 19 Jul 2012 00:00:00 IST