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| Did PDD play Jaspal Bhatti in name of smart metering? | | Pre-paid meters nowhere, deadlines keep extending | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Jan 16: The much-hyped smart pre-paid metering project of the Power Development Department in Jammu and Kashmir is ruthlessly in shambles, raising a question mark over the veracity of the claims being made by the authorities in the betterment of electricity supplies on the ground.
Sources privy to this have told Early Times that the project has failed to take off and not even a sizable chunk of the so-called smart meters have been anywhere installed in Jammu as well as in Srinagar. “There is no pre-paid metering anywhere existent on the ground. No major area has seen an installation of such meters.
This is the reason that the power scenario is worsening and we need no betterment in electricity anywhere. The entire project looks frighteningly farce and fabricated,” sources said.
It was informed further that the PDD was not even sure how many meters it was ought to install in the twin capitals of the erstwhile state. There was no ground survey done. The numbers were flimsical. At times, it was being projected that one lakh meters were being installed. At times, the number surged to twenty lakh and at times, it plummeted again to five lakhs. “This project too met with the same fate of other PDD projects. ”Way back in the year 2020, it was decided that installation of smart meters shall be started in Srinagar and Jammu cities from November 15.
In the first phase, 20,000 meters were to be installed and the process was to continue in a phased manner till all of the 200,000 meters sanctioned under the Prime Minister’s Development Package (PMDP) were installed. However, two years have passed and the installation is a long way process. The undeniable fact remains that the project has failed. All thanks to the PDD authorities and their inefficacy in streamlining the power system in Jammu and Kashmir,” says a former official.
It was told at that time that with smart meters, people will be able to know their electricity consumption pattern and bill on a real-time basis, which will help them manage the load and also monitor their monthly bill. Further, the consumers will also know the status of power supply and load in use when away from home, they added.
Smart meters will bring about transparency in metering, billing and collection which will eventually reduce power losses and will ensure quality and reliable power supply to consumers. Also, consumers can recharge their smart meters in the same manner as mobile phones, thus eliminating the requirement of manual meter reading and paper bill distribution. |
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