Ensure development of state

Having failed to take decisions on things like use of pellet guns, release of political prisoners and reckless use of public safety act (PSA), this government seems to be lagging far behind its own promises on development. The state has to spend a hefty sum on purchase of power from the Northern Grid. Most of the power so purchased is lost during transmission and distribution. Pertinent to mention the transmission and distribution losses in Jammu Kashmir are around 70%. To prevent distribution losses, the state government had introduced energy accounting of power stations in 2012, but so far the plan has not materialized. Under this system, the officer responsible for distribution of electricity was to be made accountable for the units supplied from a particular feeder. Most of the advanced meters installed in grid stations were neither reliable nor have the reliability tests been conducted regularly. The meters installed at grid or sub stations need regular testing but majority of them are unreliable and their reliability tests are being conducted rarely.   Despite investing crores in revamping power sector, especially in the capital cities, PDD has failed to prepare any Disaster Management (DM)  system in case of major breakdown in the electricity supply.  The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in one of its reports had revealed that no disaster management setup existed in the state for immediate restoration of transmission system in the event of any major electricity failure or fault. Further out of 54 Grid Sub-Stations, generator backup is available in only 37 sub-stations. Pertinently, Union Power Ministry has been regularly asking the state to increase revenue from electricity, bring down power purchase bill and T&D losses and initiate other reforms. But the concerned seem unmoved and the state continues to suffer huge losses on account of faulty transmission and distribution system. To add insult to injury the Jammu and Kashmir government has again shelved its much hyped insulation project that could have curtailed the T&D losses.  There is immediate need to revamp the power sector especially the transmission and distribution system. This can save the state the much needed revenue.

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