Jammu: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha Monday directed for carrying reforms to make the power sector robust and resilient. An official spokesman in a statement issued here said that chairing a high-level meeting to review the power scenario in Jammu and Kashmir, the LG appraised the multi-pronged strategies to meet the high electricity demand in the summer season and directed for integrating reforms for making the power sector robust and resilient.
He directed for effective enforcement through a dedicated enforcement wing for the detection of theft of electricity, wrong metering, enquiring into public complaints, unauthorised extensions in load, and surprise checking.
The LG also directed for immediate steps to ensure functioning of all the meters on 11 kV, and repair of the damaged meters within a month.
“Smart meters must be saturated feeder-wise to protect consumer interests and quality standards. It will empower the consumers and help them to conserve energy and usage in an efficient manner,” he said.
The LG also sought a report on steps taken to reduce AT&C losses.
He directed the department to fix the responsibility and draw up an action plan for reducing the losses within a specific timeframe.
The LG emphasised on training and capacity building of the Power Development Department (PDD) staff, online registration of new consumers, massive awareness drive, proper maintenance of power infrastructure, and constitution of teams of officers for monitoring physical condition of equipment.
He passed explicit directions for ensuring power supply to new industrial estates and railway tunnels.
The LG also reviewed the steps taken towards quality control, completion of languishing projects, revenue realisation and network strengthening.
Principal Secretary PDD H Rajesh Prasad briefed the chair on the effective measures taken to bridge the demand and supply gap.
It was informed that additional capacities were created during the winter to enable peak demand and 10 percent more power was supplied compared to last year.
Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta, Principal Secretary to LG Mandeep Kumar Bhandari, Managing Director JPDCL Shiv Anant Tayal, and Managing Director KPDCL Chaudhary Muhammad Yasin also attended the meeting.
