We are here again with hammer and tongs to pour ire on PDD but with no effect. The Department is incorrigible. Nothing can change its functioning unless gods in heaven intervene. And gods never agree to come down to the mundane earth and interfere in the affairs of human beings. The department has become thick- skinned to the extent that it cares not a fig for the authority of the legislature. Inefficiency and incompetence apart, even corruption apart; the department has become a festering sore with no hope of a cure at hand. True that power supply is a nation-wide issue and J&K is not an isolated case. However, improvement of the system through reforms and technical upgrading are not to be ignored and reduced to the level of futility. This is precisely the situation prevailing in our State.
As the problem of shortage of electric power results in tripping and power cuts very often, it is adversely affecting normal life. At one time PDD asserted that there was wide-scale pilferage of power which could be prevented only by metering power installations. The discourse was that consumers would no more find it possible to resort to power theft, and they will have to pay for whatever they consume. Accordingly, the suggestion was incorporated in the Electricity Power Act 2010, which clearly laid down the condition that within two years of the passing of the Act, PDD would ensure 100 per cent metering of installations. Passing of the Act means that this was the resolve of the Legislative Assembly, the supreme law making body in democratic dispensation. The law said that no power installation will be made by the PDD without metering it. With that the PDD announced with great fanfare that power cuts would be applied only to non-metered installations while metered installation would receive uninterrupted power supply. This clause of the law did not work beyond few months. After that, general power cut became the regular practice. Despite protests from the people, the PDD never responded to this situation.
Moreover, what the PDD did was to ask for extension of metering schedule by another two years on the pleas that the task would not be completed within the stipulated time. Section 49(1) of this Act explicitly states that no licensee shall supply electricity, after the expiry of two years from the commencement of the Act, except through installation of a correct meter in accordance with the regulations to be made in this behalf by the Jammu and Kashmir State Electricity Regulatory Commission. The Commission may, by notification, extend the period of two years for a class or classes of persons or for such area as may be specified in that notification”. The PDD did not notify any class or classes of persons or areas that would be entitled for the concession of going unmetered for two more years of extension given by the Commission. It wanted general extension, which however, the Commission granted though after severe reprimands. On the basis of another request of the PDD, the State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) extended the date of 100 per cent metering up to June 30, 2013. The PDD jumped this date also. Again the Commission approved the revised metering plan and extended the date till May 2014. Now the PDD has come up with another revised plan and seeks extension up to the end of Financial Year 2018-19.
What does this show? Is PDD deliberately procrastinating installation of meters of public consumers or are there practical hurdles in the way of such installations? This is a moot question. PDD officials will lose no time in putting forth a plethora of excuses to absolve themselves of their responsibilities and obligations. Anyone who understands the psyche of corrupt functionaries will have no difficulty in arriving at the bottom of the malaise. It is true that metering the installations is a lengthy work but what task is there that has not to come to an end? When the government demanded the PDD to explain why there were horrendous interruptions in power supply, they brought the onus to the doorsteps of consumers alleging large scale pilferage. When the Government introduced the metering scheme to do away with pilferage, the PDD is now making one excuse after the other to justify stretching out the time frame from one extension to another. All this shows that there is something shady in the PDD. If people have to wait till the end of 2019 for 100 per cent metering, it means that till 2019 there is no hope of any improvement in power supply or power cuts. That is atrocious and playing with the aspirations of the people. Why does not the PDD opt for privatization of meter installation programme? In most of the States in our country, power supply has been fully or partially privatized and that arrangement runs smoothly. The State Electricity Regulatory Commission should think along these lines if it wants that the condition of power supply should improve in the state.
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