Chetan Prabhakar
We have recently seen many agitations throughout the UT of J&K and most of the political parties have been making huge hue and cry regarding installation of smart meters. Why are we against Smart Meters? What is so harmful about Smart Meters? Which are the people who are getting troubled on installations of Smart meters? These people are, who do not want to pay electricity bills, as we the people of J&K have a habit of enjoying free supply of electricity from generations. There are many political parties whose vote bank is free supply of electricity.
At the outset, it is vital to mention that the main reason, for huge power cuts, is free supply of electricity. Power cuts is the only way to compensate the free electricity given and used. In peak summers, in Jammu, there is literally no power supply for hours together. That is happening because a lot of people in the UT of J&K do not want to pay for electricity bill/s and people who pay, suffer for wrong doing of the people who enjoy free electricity.
The installation of smart meters will also, to some extent, curb the corruption in the concerned department since when the people will not get free supply, they will also not pay for manipulations. This shall have a curbing effect and cascading in all the Sections of the Department. Then, the slogan will be; ‘na kamoon ga na kamane doonga’, not like now and previous times; ‘tub hi kama, main bhi kamata hoon’ and people are proud to be corrupt. I have heard a person saying that he is the richest JE of J&K. Being corrupt is a matter of pride and honour for, we, the people of J&K. Is this a right way of thinking? Is this really a matter of pride and honour?
Now, why are people against smart meters? They are because Smart Meters will do real time monitoring and meter reading without human intervention and there can be no way of manipulation of meter reading and/or bills. The definition of Smart Meters is given below:
A smart meter is an electronic device that records information-such as consumption of electric energy, voltage levels, current, and power factor-and communicates the information to the consumer and electricity suppliers.
The advantages of Smart Meters as per JKPDD are: a) accurate billing; b) more saving; c) no manual reading; d) real time monitoring; and e) quick response to outages.
The objectives for installation of Smart Meters as per JKPDD are: a) un-interrupted supply of power; b) electrification of un-electrical/de-electrified/partial electrified village/hamlets; c) reduction of T&D/AT&C losses; and d) preparation of strategical plan to reduce power deficit.
The ease of payment of electricity bills is other benefit of smart meters. Now, we can pay our bill through our phones/computers from anywhere at any time we want and through various mode. We can pay bill in full or in part. Earlier, there was a window of 10 days to pay the bill from 15th to 25th day of every month and bills were payable only in J&K banks or concerned station of JKPDD, which was inconvenient and made a lot of people miss their due dates resulting in accumulation of electricity bills.
Now, if smart meters have so much benefits; why most of the political parties are making huge hue and cry on installations of Smart Meters. It is because they have only politicians and no statesman. The difference between a politician and a statesman is; a statesman thinks about next generation, whereas, a politician thinks about next election, that is why, they are making such a huge noise and this is to save their vote bank and what these politicians and our earlier generations have given us are huge power cuts, a jobless world and a under developed country.
Why Europe, USA and UAE made such a huge progress despite they were given the most difficult terrain with harsh climate, and in India, we get deteriorated with time despite having the best of terrains and avenues. This is serious question to ponder upon. In India, especially in J&K, only Government employees who wanted to earn ‘Uparke Paisa’ used to work and the employees who did not use to work were given free holidays as they only had to go to the office once a month to collect salaries and fill attendance. These both are the forms of corruption. One in cash and another in kind.
We need to eradicate this mindset to give a better world for the generations to come, and Installation of Smart Meters is really a welcome move for those who really want to pay electricity bills to enjoy an uninterrupted supply of electricity and to give a brighter future to the generations to come.
(The author is an advocate)
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