PDD’s encouraging achievements shadowed by inability to provide ‘scheduled’ supply
Srinagar: Twenty-five percent increase in power tariff of the general consumers, robust growth in the power receipts of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and a substantial decrease in its annual spending on power purchases are the plain statistics emerging from its Power Development Department (PDD). The outcomes are, however, black and blank as the consumers across the Valley have nevertheless to grope in darkness!
The power outages this autumn are giving the domestic and commercial consumers a tough time, across Kashmir. The Power department (PDD) has resorted to load-shedding in metered as well as non-metered areas. Besides, the consumers have to face unscheduled power-cuts in the region which is inching towards a weather pattern with icy nights.
Meanwhile, the power receipts of the former state have shot up considerably, thanks to the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission for UT of J&K and Ladakh. The Commission allowed the PDD to increase the electricity tariff by a whopping 25 percent in the year outgone.
The PDD receipts according to the Finance department data were Rs 4,500 crores in 2020-2021 which shot up to Rs 5,000 crores in 2021-22. The revenue, mostly on account of tariff, is estimated to reach Rs 6,000 crores during the current fiscal, say the sources.
On the other hand, the power purchase bill of the former state, according to the data, has also gone down substantially.
In 2020-2021, the UT purchased power worth Rs 5,500 crores which dropped by 33 percent in the following year.
In 2022-23 the power bill of the UT dropped to Rs 3,074 crores and is expected to slide to Rs 3,040 crores this fiscal.
Although the administration is claiming that the crisis of power deficiency in Kashmir is over with recourse to power banking from Uttar Pradesh and other states. However, the ground situation is quite conflicting and the domestic as well as commercial establishments are angry over the extended periods of darkness.
The absence of a dedicated power supply is also affecting the patients requiring artificial oxygen in their homes.
Abdul Hamid, a resident of Nowshera, city periphery, said that his elderly mother developed certain bronchial complexities due to Covid infection. For most of the time she requires to be put on an oxygen concentrator but power outings are creating unbearable situations for the patient, he said.
Kashmir Hotels and Restaurant Owners Federation (KHAROF) ex-president, Abdul Wahid Malik, said that a bulk of the resources of the hoteliers are drained in arranging for petrochemical run gensets.
Although the flow of tourists is good, an average of 12 to 14 hour power outings are a bane for the business, he said.
Admitting that the availability of power is very low, Chief Engineer PDD Javed Yousuf said that around 950 to 1150 MW electricity are being provided to the consumers a day in Kashmir.
“All of our power projects are run of the river ventures. The local generation is extremely low and has steeply decreased to 70 to 80 MWs because of the awfully decreased water levels in the rivers,” he said.
The actual demand of power in the region is being said to be around 1600 MWs.
The Chief Engineer also said that most of the power available to the consumers is purchased from different power utilities including the ones in the Central sector.
He attributed the reduction in power purchase bill to clearance of liabilities through loan schemes.
