Under Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY), the State Government proposed electrification in the erstwhile district of Doda that would provide electricity to the three districts of Ramban, Doda and Kishtwar covering 37818 rural families including 26273 families below poverty line. The cost estimate of the project was rupees 287.49 crore. The blue print of the project was also prepared and sent to the Union Ministry of Power which sanctioned rupees 101 crore. Clear guidelines of how to utilize the funds were also conveyed to the State Government. It was a matter of jubilation for the Government and the people involved. The said region is a hilly one and the people have scanty means of subsistence. These are poor and backward villages and bringing electricity to them would have been a remarkable achievement in terms of rural development of the State. But as is the case with most of mega projects in the State, with the passage of time, interest in the project dried up and the entire scheme was relegated to back burner. Not a blade of grass moved and those who had exuded great exhilaration remained with muted voice.
We have tried to go deeper into this episode because power is a priority area for the State. The question is when the State drew a power supply plan with great care and labour and also prepared the blue print why should it have been left to collect dust at the end of the day. We have come to know that the PDD authorities have not been convenient with the guidelines which the Union Ministry of Power has proposed and appended to the financing of the scheme. Even if some of the conditions or guidelines proposed by the Union Ministry are not implementable and should be revised, there is a provision in the entire scheme that such changes as are considered feasible by the State Government can be taken up with the Union Government. Naturally in the light of this clause, the PDD should have taken up with the Union Ministry of Power such items as needed reconsideration. This was the right thing to do and then having hammered out the differences, proceeded with the implementation of the project. Unfortunately, in stead of making things go, the PDD chose to remain silent and do nothing. The Union Ministry of Power has taken a serious note of this situation and has written to the State Government that it is a sad state of affairs. Though the Ministry has indicated that it would give one time extension for awarding the contracts yet there are indications that even the extension may not of much help.
Essentially, the issue is that of PDD is not approving the bidders from outside the State while the contractors within the State have not responded to the tenders. They have argued that that conditions laid down by the Union Ministry of Power do not suit them and hence they have refused to bid. The irony is that the State administration is unable to resolve the logjam for reasons best known to it. The ultimate sufferers are the hundreds of thousands of poor villagers living in far off mountainous regions as they go without electric power. Is this what should be called a welfare State? If no other state in the country has problems with the guidelines provided by the Union Ministry of Power, why only our State gets singled out? The State Government must go deep into these issues and resolve it in the interests of vast number of poor and below poverty line families who would have been the beneficiaries of the electrification project in Chenab Valley.
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