Early Times Report
Jammu, Aug 5: Thanks to the dilatory mode of functioning of the state dispensation, it will take much time than expected for the already perturbed masses of the state to witness the end of dark times and of the power scarcity.
On July 24, this year, a Mumbai-based electric transmission development company, Sterlite Power, stated in a presser that it has completed the 1,000 MWs transmission line, spread over 400 kilometres from Jammu's Samba to Kashmir's Sopore, and it ready to handover the project to the government for execution. The project is aimed to overcome the infrastructure deficit in the state, which is one of the main reasons for power cuts, and was completed ahead of deadline.
The company completed its transmission line-Northern Region System Strengthening 29 (NRSS 29) project-from Samba in Jammu to Amargarh in north Kashmir's Baramulla district.
However, call it a sorry state of affairs that the Jammu and Kashmir's power department is still ill-equipped to deal with such a vital project.
Top government sources told Early Times that even though the company has finished the project, it will take lot of time to the state government to augment the additional power. "We don't have the system that has the capacity to take additional power. It will take years to the state to equip itself for receiving supply from the transmission which is supplying additional 1000MWs of power to the state," sources divulged.
Furthermore, the government had to cut a sorry figure when it couldn't take the additional power of 792 MWs from the central government to meet its demands during the last peak winter season. At that time too, the PDD shrugged its shoulders- stating that its infrastructure isn't that much equipped to distribute any additional power supplies in the state.
For the project in question, the JK government could find itself in a tight spot as the central government is keen in implementing the project in the state without any delay. "The central government has invested a lot of money in the project so that the people in Jammu and Kashmir could have an un interrupted power supplies throughout the year. However, if the state government fails to implement it on time, it will lead to disgruntlement," says an official.
The power requirement in the State is met from the generation from allocated share from central generating stations, their own power plants and power purchased from market. The peak demand of J&K during the current year (April to October, 2017) was 2,768 MW and the demand met was 2214 MW, thus, leaving shortfall of around 554 MW (i.e 20%). At present, around 70% of the energy requirement is being met from Central Generating Stations in the State.
The allocation of power to J&K from Central Generating Stations (CGS) is 2,397 MW. The supply from CGS includes power stations of NTPC, NHPC, SJVNL, NPCIL, NLC, etc.
Pertinently, the Prime Minister in the year 2015 had pledged to bring power to 18,452 unelectrified villages within 1,000 days in his August 2015 Independence Day national address. In Jammu and Kashmir, 100 out of 134 villages, encompassing 270,000 households, lacking electricity were still waiting to be connected. |
