Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, July 18: Governor N N Vohra has reprimanded the Power Development Department for failing to electrify over 100 villages in Jammu and Kashmir.
According to official sources, over 3.5 lakh households comprising of around 10 lakh people of over 100 villages are unelectrified so far in J&K, where the inhabitants still use the traditional forms of lighting their home because the government doesn't have capacity to provide them electricity. Of these villages, most fall in Chenab belt of the Jammu region.
Governor N N Vohra on Tuesday held a meeting where he according to sources took on PDD officials for delaying electrifying the unelectrified villages in the state.
In the meeting the Power Secretary informed that all the villages in the state, except 38,8000 households, stand electrified as per the standard definition.
However, a source privy to the meeting said that Governor expressed concern over the delay in electrifying these households. Governor according to the source directed that all works pertaining to electrification of the un-electrified households categorised under different Centrally Sponsored Schemes be completed at the earliest.
"These works should be taken up departmentally to ensure that all these households are electrified before the targeted by December 31, 2018," the source quoting Governor as having said.
In the meeting, sources said that Chief Secretary emphasised that the targets for electrification of 100% households in the two aspirational districts of Kupwara and Baramulla should be urgently completed, before August 15, 2018, on departmental basis.
Official sources within the Power Development Department said that 42 villages comprising of around 1.4 lakh households are without electricity in Kashmir.
These villages are in Gurez, Machil, and Keran areas. "The un-electrified villages get three hours of power supply through generator sets," an official of the PDD, said. "Government is paying for purchasing of diesel to run these generators and provide three hour power supply to inhabitants," the official said.
Ghulam Mohammad Bhat, a resident of Gurez, said that they were promised by the successive government of electrification to their villages. "So far, nothing has happened," he said. "We have to take meals under candle light," Bhat said.
He said that water resources of the state have been lighting up lakhs of households in the country. "But there are still thousands of people in Jammu and Kashmir like we who live in dark. We still use traditional forms of lighting our houses," Bhat added.
The state has a hydroelectricity potential of 20,000 MWs of which around 3000 MWs have been identified so far with NHPC generating 2009 MWs from its seven power projects which is almost half of the energy, the power giant generates from its projects in other states.
"JK has to purchase electricity worth hundreds of crores annually from the centre-owned NHPC and other power corporations," a senior official of the PDD, said. "The J&K gets a share of just 13 percent from the electricity that NHPC generates in the state. The state is facing shortage of electricity especially during winters," he said.
The official said that government was also facing challenges in laying power lines and install poles due to rough terrain in far-flung areas. |
