JAMMU: Principal Secretary Power Development Department, Rohit Kansal said that, “Preventive maintenance is the key to avoid undue and unwanted power failures”. He advised the officers and staff of the corporations to carry out exhaustive preventive maintenance activities particularly on 11KV feeders and lines so as to eliminate cases of power outages due to sudden faults. He specially asked the officers of various Sub Transmission and Distribution divisions to identify lines and feeders with chronic problems address them first so as to prevent cases of undue cuts and unscheduled, erratic power supply.
He was chairing a meeting with officers of the Jammu Power Development Corporation and sister Corporations at Jammu today.
The Principal Secretary took an exhaustive review of the power sector in the division while laying special emphasis on progress of revenue realization, AT&C losses, outages and status of various development works under centrally sponsored schemes and other programmes.
With respect to revenue realization, the Principal Secretary exhorted the officers to conduct rigorous inspections, impose strict penalties and disconnect power supply to those at fault. He emphasized that the gap between cost of power purchased and revenue realized was becoming unsustainable and that the DISCOMS needed to make the best efforts to meet the targets set for revenue realization this year. He added that willful defaulters in all segments- industrial, commercial or domestic need to be strictly proceeded against.
The Principal Secretary directed that pending dues of corporate consumers, large business establishments, government and private offices and all other defaulting organizations be looked into and outstandings realized.
The meeting was informed that 100% metering of feeders in J&K has now been achieved and nearly half of the meters installed are also capable of automatic communication with the National Power Portal. The Principal Secretary directed that all feeder meters be checked, a regular database of energy supplied, losses and outages be maintained and fed in the department’s online portal e-support.
He also announced that a cash incentive would be given to all feeder managers and supervisory engineers upon achievement of pre agreed targets. He also warned that there still existed feeders with losses over 80% and continued losses of this kind would invite strict action.
Special mention of crude heaters and boilers was also made by the Principal Secretary who said that their use has been banned by law and strict action be taken on their sale and use.
On the installation of Smart Meters in Jammu city, the Principal Secretary was informed that 1 lakh such meters each are being installed in Jammu and Srinagar cities currently. Another 3 lakh Smart Meters, for Jammu and Srinagar cities each, are in the pipeline to be installed shortly. The Superintending Engineers were directed to identify priority areas for installation of such meters and were also told to include government offices and establishments in the priority list.
The Principal Secretary took stock of winter preparations by the department and discussed availability of essential equipment and material including poles, wires and conductors. The Executive Engineers of “winter districts” were directed to mobilise their workshops, speed up repairs and stock up of material and machinery to avoid any power shortages in winter. Winter districts, which include Kishtwar, Doda, Poonch and others, were also assured of availability of buffer stock and material from central stores.
Rohit Kansal also reviewed the status of other issues like bidding, tendering and evaluation works of various projects, circle-wise Distribution Transformer UID Punching status, app-based meter reading, availability of key material available at Electric Central Store Division Jammu and progress in completion of Centrally Sponsored projects among other issues. He specially emphasized the need to complete all CAPEX and CSS works well within the sunset period. He also emphasized the need for submitting fresh proposals well in time to the Union government to ensure timely release of funds.
The working of JKPDCL’s call centre was discussed by the Principal Secretary who also expressed the need to further increase the interface of the department with the consumers. While appreciating the response of the officers to public complaints and grievances on various social media platforms, he called for a more institutionalized information sharing and grievance resolution mechanism so as to bring about a quick resolution to all customer complaints.
The meeting was attended by Chairman JPDCL, Jagmohan Sharma, Managing Director JPDCL Gurmeet Singh, Managing Director JPTCL Naseeb Singh, Chief Engineers, Director General Planning, Director Finance, Superintending and Executive Engineers and other senior officers.