Srinagar: Chief Secretary, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta chaired a meeting of the Power Development Department (PDD) to discuss the prospective reforms to be taken up in the distribution sector in JK.
The meeting was attended by the Additional Chief Secretary, Finance; Principal Secretary, PDD; DG Budget; Chief Engineers of the department and many other officers of the department.
The Chief Secretary impressed upon the officers to work on the reduction of Actual Transmission and Distribution (AT&D) losses and take them down at least by 10% each year to bring them within the permissible limits. He urged them to ensure quality power supply to consumers besides the realization of pending liabilities from the consumers.
Mehta also stressed running a campaign to assure consumers that the department is committed to providing quality power if they reimburse their dues on time. He suggested installing only smart meters in the future and installing the conventional meters from these areas in unmetered areas.
The Chief Secretary stressed on completion of all the works regarding the installation of Smart metres and loss reduction in a time-bound manner. He maintained that the endeavor of the department should be to provide round-the-clock electricity to all the consumers in the next few years.
The meeting was informed that the department is to carry out Smart Metering works at the cost of Rs 1046.71 crores and loss reduction works at the cost of Rs 4595.20 crores under Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS).
It was also revealed that under phase-I 115000 smart meters had been installed and in phase-II some 600000 more such meters would be installed till July 2023.
The meeting also discussed that a total of more than 21 lakh Smart Metres would be installed in the UT for bringing a substantial change in the power sector here besides providing 24×7 power supply to consumers here in the next few years.
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