The question of rural electrification of Jammu and Kashmir has not to be tackled in routine manner. We need to understand the geography and topography of the rural areas first. It is a hilly State with some of the ranges as high as 15000 feet and above sea level. Most of our rural population lives at considerable height over these mountains and hills. Approach to these populated habitats is rather stupendous. In many cases roads are lacking and in others connectivity, climatic conditions and environs are so harsh that the execution of electrification project is hampered in more than one way. The Rural Electrification Corporation has very honestly said that a large number of habitats in rural areas of the State are without electricity.
In a bid to tackle this issue, the Government devised what is called State Hydel Policy which was formally introduced by the Chief Minister way back in July 2011. The objective of this policy was to harness the water resources in rural parts of the State that could generate anything between 2 to 10 Megawatts of power from each local mini/micro hydroelectric power generating units. It would have the benefit of utilising the water that otherwise is not put to any economic use and could produce electricity to bring power to the respective localities. Maintenance of these mini projects would be easy and handy. And above all these would come up in a short span of time besides not asking for huge investments that do not come easily. The policy in principal is very sound and realistic. The Rural Electrification Corporation identified as many as ten sites where mini/micro hydroelectric power generating units could be installed. These are spread over remote and mostly hilly areas of the State and all put together would have the cumulative capacity of generating 76 MW. After announcing the policy as mentioned above, the Government was euphoric in having found at last a permanent solution to electric shortage in the State especially in the rural sector. In a sense Government’s excitement was not misplaced because if the projects had been set afloat in accordance with the plan, its results would have been highly favourable and would have changed the life in rural areas of the state.
But why did not even a single project out of ten identified sites take place? What is the lacuna in the policy and why it cannot be rectified? The fact of the matter is that since 2011, Government thrice advertised for bids but there was no response from private contractors who would take up the projects. The Government wants that local contractors meaning contractors belonging to the State have to be encouraged to make the bid. Apart from this, the real reason why no bids have been coming in for last three years are the tough conditions attached to the bidding by the Government. In particular the charges for the usage of water are so high that no bidder is prepared to run the risk. They say that the estimated expenditures and water usage charge are so high that very little or negligible fraction is left for the contractor by way of profit. Therefore the entire scheme has been hanging fire. It is not clear to us what the specific conditions are that discourage contractors from making a bid, but obviously these must be harsh ones. We hope that the Government will not have left the costing of the projects entirely to the bureaucrats ignoring the technical side of the deal. Moreover we think that the approach to the policy of developing mini/micro projects should not be that of a businessman whose attention is pinned to the profit and loss aspects only. The Government has to be a welfare Government and the philosophy of development also envisages the part of moral aspect. The Government is duty bound to provide electricity to the rural population. Delaying this facility to them is undesirable. It is unjust. The Government should make as much relaxation in the conditions as would be possible so that local contractors are induced to make bids and be more than willing to undertake these projects. Who does not understand the significance of these projects to the State? As such the Government should try to find a middle path to resolve this issue and let work on these projects begin as early as possible.
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