Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, Oct 22: The Power Development Department has realised around Rs 8000 crore as power tariff from consumers for the last five years against the fixed target of Rs 15,000 crore in the state.
The shortfall in revenue realization has led to power liabilities of Rs 8000 crore in the state, officials said.
Source said, the department has realized revenue of Rs 8000 crore for the last five years that is 50 percent revenue realisation against the target of Rs 15,000 crore.
For 2013-14, the PDD had set a target of Rs 3344 crore power tariff, it realized only Rs 1700 crore. During 2014-15, the department had fixed a target of Rs 3500 crore but achieved only Rs 1773 crore. The government had set Rs 3700 crore as power tariff during 2015-2016 but received only Rs 1900 crore from the consumers.
"The shortfall in revenue realization has led to power liabilities of thousands of crore. The government departments, politicians and bureaucrats are among the power defaulters in the state," an official of the PDD said.
The State Advisory Committee on power has said that widening gap in purchasing and revenue generation of power may lead to deterioration in the services of the PDD department.
To reduce the revenue generation gap, the PDD has also decided to expedite the installation of metering process and has set up the target of 2019 for its completion. During the last one decade, government has spent Rs 22,000 crores on purchase of electricity.
At the same time, there have been abrupt power cuts across the state.
"For the last one week, the power scenario is deteriorating with each passing day without any power schedule," Mehraj Din, a resident of Batamaloo said.
The government has not issued any power curtailment schedule.
Nisar Ahmad, a resident of Sanatnagar, said that they face power outrages 10 times in a day. "We face power cuts mostly during morning and evening hours," he said, whose area is also a metered area.
The situation is almost same in other metered areas like Rajbagh, Shalimar, and Habak, where the residents too face abrupt power cuts.
The situation is grim in non-metered areas. "We face five to six-hour power cuts in a day," Shabir Ahmad, a resident of Shireen Bagh Karanagar, said.
A senior PDD official said that overloading was causing power cuts. "Wherever there is overloading, there will be power cuts," he said adding that PDD will not issue power curtailment schedule in this month.
He Kashmir was short of around 700 MWs of electricity. "We have 1300 MWs power available that is being provided to people against the requirement of 2000 MWs," he added. |
