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| 33KV alternate transmission line connecting Kishtwar disappears mysteriously | | Exchequer loses Rs 38 Cr | | Asif Iqbal Naik
Early Times Report
Jammu, Feb 9: The mystery shrouds over the disappearance of 33KV transmission line, which is an alternative line to provide electricity to Kishtwar District continues to deepen, as officials of Sub Transmission Division Udhampur responsible for the maintenance and keeping guard of thr line has disappeared mysteriously in the 2008 and even after more than 10 years, nobody knows about the actual fate of this transmission.
As per the details available with "Early Times" the 33KV transmission line that connects Kishtwar receiving station at Malipath with that of Grid Station at Thatri, covers the distance of 30 kilometers from Thatri to Kishtwar and put the total length of the wire used in this transmission line at more than 90 kilometers, as the said transmission line carries the three wires together along with hundreds of electric poles.
The issue of this alternative transmission line came to
fore when the Kishtwar district plunged into darkness again since last four days due to damage to NHPC tower line at Seigawahari near Pul Doda and at four other towers were damaged on Kishtwar-Doda section while another tower also collapsed at Botate.
As per the details available with "Early Times", the said transmission line carries three overhead wires on 9 meters iron pole, thus as per the calculation, the wire used in this transmission line is known as "Dog wire" that costs approximately Rs. 1500/Meter, thus put the cost of the 90 kilometers (3X30) wire to the tune of Rs. 13.50 Crore. Beside 90 Kilometers of Dog wire, Iron poles of nine meters length with Bushes, Insulators and labour costs put the cost of one iron pole up to the tune of Rs. 32000 and 1200 such poles were used to carry this 30 KM transmission line up to Kishtwar that costs about 3.84 crore thus put the total losses to the Govt. exchequer to the tune of Rs. 17.34 crore beside the time consumed by the officials who were also getting handsome salaries.
When contacted senior officials said that the transmission line has been stolen by some unidentified persons more than 10 years ago and said that the FIR has also been registered in this regard at that time.
He said that even after the lapse of several years, nothing has been done so far. He said that, in similar case; the 32 KM transmission line has been disappeared from Mandal area on the outskirt of Kishtwar town to Galhar which provides electricity to Padder Tehsil, thus putting another loss of more than around 20 Crores to the exchequer.
In a question regarding steps taken by the department to provide alternative electricity connectivity to Kishtwar District after the mysterious disappearance of 30 KM of 33KV transmission line, the senior official said that the projects stands submitted to the Governemnt around 8-10 years ago and said that after getting the nod from the Govt, the work on providing alternative transmission line to Kishtwar will be started. He said that, beside this project, 50 MW grid station at Kishtwar is already functional, which will be than connected with double circuit line from Ramban.
If going through the previous details, several questions were raised in Government meetings regarding the theft of 32 KM transmission line from Mandal to Ghalar, but nothing came to discussion with regards to mysterious disappearance of 33KV transmission line from Thatri to Kishtwar. It was believed by the officials that, after the theft, the thieves sold the same to the scrape shops in Kishtwar and Thatri Tehsil, with the nexus between some policemen, officials within the department at that time and the scrape owners, as the scrap shops were full of scrap belongs to Dul Hasti power project both legalized as well as stolen material of this project was openly sold to them during these years. After surfacing of the nexus, the then Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad during a District Development Board meeting imposed ban on scrap shops and ordered closure of all scrap shops in Kishtwar district with immediate effect, but of no result as these shops continued to run in Kishtwar and its vicinity who buys the stolen material of PHE pipes, electric poles and even the covers of manhole of residential areas were not spared by these thieves who were behind all these thefts and if the investigating agencies works with dedication, such thefts could not only be prevented, but offenders will also be punished.
It is pertinent to mention that due to collapsing of six towers of 132 KV transmission line of NHPC, Kishtwar and Doda District had plunged into darkness and it will take 12-14 Days to NHPC to restore electricity to Kishtwar District. |
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