Taking a u-turn from his recent claim that regular power will be supplied in Jammu, the power minister Sunil Sharma today said that “it is not possible” to supply power regularly both in Jammu and Kashmir due to the “poor infrastructure” which, he said, needs immediate improvement and augmentation.
“We need some time to improve the power scenario as it cannot be done overnight,” Sharma said.
The minister said that central government provided funds of Rs 8000 crore for augmentation of power infrastructure three years back but due to certain reasons that was not utilized.
While addressing a hurriedly called press conference to explain helplessness of the Power Development Department (PDD) in overcoming the worst power crisis that has hit Jammu region, the minister said, “It is not possible to supply power round the clock due to poor infrastructure”.
He said that the power demand increases manifold in Jammu during summers and in Kashmir during winters, but to meet that demand, the infrastructure has not been augmented despite Rs 8000 crore being provided by the Government of India.
He said that the department has prioritized some immediate measures and work for augmentation of power infrastructure will be started this month in June.
“Rs 8000 crore provided by Government of India for augmentation of power infrastructure three years back will now be utilized and work for augmentation will be started this month in June”.
He said that tenders have been finalized, contractors have also been identified and work for augmentation will be started this month from Udhampur. Soon, infrastructure in entire state will be augmented but it will take some time, he said.
He also said that to overcome power crisis in Jammu, one hundred and seventy five (175) transformers installed by IRCON will be made functional soon which will help in addressing the crisis to a certain extent.
Apart from this, he said that the grid stations like Canal, Janipur and Barn will also be augmented to improve the power supply.
Sharma said that power theft is also one of the reasons for the crisis that hits Jammu and Kashmir during peak season. We have chalked out plan to act tough against those indulged in power theft, be it our employees or somebody else.
“We are going to constitute teams for surveillance by taking assistance of Police to check power theft,” Sharma said.
The minister also said that the department is facing shortage of manpower. “We will move a proposal in the cabinet to overcome shortage of manpower,” he said.
The minister also said that action will also be taken against the bureaucrats, politicians and other high profile people who have not paid their outstanding dues.
It may be mentioned that Jammu has been facing worst power crisis in the recent times. There is one hour curtailment every two hours in metered areas. The frequency of cuts increases during peak time. In non-metered areas, the situation is even worse where the curtailments range from 7 to 8 hours.