Jammu: Chief Secretary Dr. Arun K Mehta Wednesday said that a vibrant, disruption-free winter remains the topmost priority of the government this year.
He made this assertion while chairing a meeting to review the power scenario in Kashmir Valley, an official press release informed.
Rohit Kansal, Principal Secretary Power Development Department, Basharat Qayoom, MD Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation Limited and Chief Engineers and other senior officers of Distribution Kashmir, Projects Kashmir and Transmission Kashmir attended the meeting.
The Chief Secretary was apprised about the existing electricity scenario in the Valley, the current energy consumption pattern and future power requirement during the winter season.
According to the official press release, he was informed that the Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation has already touched a peak load of 1653 MW which is nearly 100 MW higher than the peak load of 1546 which was served last year. Similarly, the power supply to the Kashmir Valley this year alone had been of the order of 5719.6 million units – an increase of 12 percent over the previous year.
While acknowledging the efforts of the department, the Chief Secretary also directed the officers to undertake greater efforts to ensure smooth power supply during winters. He directed inspection of all transformers by 30th November 2021 to ensure good health of transformers, besides simultaneously inspecting all HT/LT fuses within 15 days, the press release said.
Dr. Mehta further directed prevention of unscheduled power-cuts due to overloading and formulation of proper protocol to manage scheduled power-cuts. He also directed initiation of IEC campaign for raising awareness on agreemented power load, schedule of electricity cuts and helpline number for complaints.
The department was also directed to explore the possibility of informing the public about the scheduled power-cut through text messages in the future, besides ensuring lowering the existing transformer damage rate from 20 to 10 percent during the three winter months.
The department was also asked to ensure that the damaged transformers in all main towns be replaced within 8 hours of reported failure, while in other areas the same shall be made functional within 24 hours.
Special emphasis was to be laid on providing protective gear and proper heating arrangements to the employees deployed on duties in extreme weather conditions for maintenance works.
The Chief Secretary mentioned that the government is keen to ensure a vibrant winter tourism season in Kashmir and for this purpose, provision of reliable electricity supply is of critical importance. He exhorted the officers of the KPDCL to provide 24X7 power supply to Gulmarg and Pahalgam, besides ensuring that winter tourist spots including Sonamarg and Doodpathri receive adequate electric supply during these winters. For this all necessary arrangements including laying of underground cables and other suitable arrangements shall be made in a timely manner, the press release said.
REALTY CHECK
The entire Valley, particularly the rural side is already witnessing longer, unscheduled power cuts.
