No cuts in metered areas
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 30: A high level meeting was held under the chairmanship of Governor, Satya Pal Malik to review the preparedness of JKPDD for providing regular and smooth power supply to the consumers during peak demand period of summer season.
Khurshid Ahmed Ganai, Advisor to Governor, BVR Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary, Umang Narula, Principal Secretary to Governor, Hirdesh Kumar, Secretary JKPDD and Sanjeev Verma, Divisional Commissioner Jammu, were among those present in the meeting.
Hirdesh Kumar gave a presentation of the prime issues faced by the Department in summer of last year vis-a-vis the measures taken in all links of the power supply chain, during the year so as to ensure that adequate power is made available to the consumers in summers.
At the outset, it was informed that the power availability to the State has improved in comparison to last year. However, to meet any power deficit arising due to increased demand, additional power will be purchased through short term PPAs, URS, IEX and other economically suitable means.
Secretary PDD further presented a comprehensive detail of capacity additions done by the Department at all voltage levels/ critical points during the year and those likely to be completed by end of May. Further elaborating the same, he said that with strengthening of transmission system, adequate power will be available at distribution level as 50 MVA more capacity will be available at 220 KV level and 290 MVA more capacity will be available at 132 KV level as compared to last year. While in Distribution Sector, the distress in power due to 29 critically overloaded Receiving Stations, where capacity constraints were experienced last year has been addressed by way of augmentation of existing transformation capacities and creation of new power transformers and at DT level, 167 MVA capacity additions has been done.
The PDD informed that this summer, 24×7 power shall be supplied to Jammu City, Udhampur, Reasi and Ramban town areas while power cut will not exceed 1 hour in urban areas of Districts Samba, Kathua, Rajouri, Poonch, Doda and Kishtwar this season.
PDD will minimize power cuts in rural areas as well, specifically from 6 pm to 11 pm, when maximum power is required by the households and formulate a roster in this regard so as to impose power cut in a staggered manner while ensuring that at least 2-3 hrs power supply is assured to the consumers during the said period. He expressed his concern over the high DT failure rate accrued last year.
It was discussed that around 60,000 DTs are running in the system and failure of DTs causes a lot of inconvenience to the public. As such, the Governor directed the Department to install overload protection devices so as to save the DTs from burning during overload.
In addition, Governor also asked the Department to keep a sufficient reserve of DTs of all capacities for immediate replacement in case of damage while minimizing the turn-around time. In urban areas, the DT replacement shall in no case be delayed more than 12 hrs, which was previously 24 hrs while in rural areas, the replacement time shall not exceed 3 days.
Besides, Malik advised the Department to install fire fighting equipment at the buffer stock complexes, where reserve DTs will be kept to prevent any untoward incidence. To improve the consumer centric services, a toll free helpline number/ call centre will be provided while setting up 24×7 Divisional Level Complaint Centre for any enquiry about power supply related issues/ complaint registration.
While directing the Department to put a stern check on power pilferage, he said that electrical energy meters shall be installed at the power supply points/ poles so as to ascertain the precise areas, rampant with power theft.
Taking cognizance of electrical accidents while carrying out the system upkeep/ repairs, the Department was instructed to provide safety equipment to the line staff and presence of a guard at all Receiving Stations/ supply points, who will ensure that power supply is not switched on till the linemen are working on the network. Furthermore the PDD was directed that the field functionaries of the Department should be given life insurance cover under various schemes launched by the Government for which the premium amount will be funded by the Department.
Meanwhile, Malik chaired another high level meeting to review preparedness regarding water supply situation during summer season in Jammu Division.
While reviewing the available water supply scenario, the Governor was informed that 25 % of the shortfall has been overcome by completing the ongoing water schemes and an additional 18 MGD capacity will be enhanced by December this year.
The PHE Department was directed to immediately carry out the mapping of vulnerable and critical areas facing water supply shortage and preparing a comprehensive Action Plan to deal with it.
It was decided that the Water Tanker supply should be strengthened throughout the Division and Machinery and Transformer Banks will be established by the end of May this year for dealing with emergencies. Besides, the Department was asked to prepare a proposal for installing GPS system on water tankers supplying water.
It was suggested that a co-ordinated approach between the PDD and PHE department be adopted in maintaining uninterrupted electricity supply to the 66 dedicated feeders for supplying water to critical stations. PHE Secretary Ajit Sahu informed that 33 new dedicated Feeders will strengthen the already existing infrastructure for uninterrupted water supply.
The PHE Department was directed to make suitable arrangements for Transformer repairs and the Chief Engineer PHE, Jammu, would be responsible for weekly reviewing the water supply situation, issues of leakages in the system and illegal connections.
It was decided that the PHE Department will generate awareness regarding water conservation, introduction of guidelines for installing rain water harvesting system in newly proposed buildings, establishment of 24×7 call centre for grievance redressal and introduce automated monitoring system at critical pumping stations.
The meeting also reviewed the funding requirements for urgent works in the Flood plains of rivers- Tawi, Chenab and Basanter and other big Nallahs of Jammu Division.
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