Chief Secretary reviews power, water scenario in JK

Srinagar, Apr 26: Chief Secretary, Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta, Tuesday chaired a meeting of Power Development and Jal Shakti departments at Civil Secretariat here to review power and water scenario in Jammu and Kashmir.
The meeting was attended by Commissioner Secretary Jal Shakti, M Raju, SMC Commissioner, Athar Aamir Khan, MD KPDCL, Dr Basharat Qayoom, Secretary (Technical) PDD, Bashir Ahmad Dar, Chief Engineer, PHE Kashmir, Basharat J Kawoosa, Chief Engineer PDD (Transmission) Hashmat Qazi, Chief Engineer Projects PDD, Lateef Ahmad and Director Finance, Jal Shakti, Lateef Ahmad Poswal.
Principal Secretary, Power Development Department, Niteshwar Kumar, Commissioner JMC, MD JKPTCL, MD JPDCL, MD JKSPDC, Chief Engineers of various wings of JPDCL, Chief Engineer PHE and other senior officers attended the meeting from Jammu through video conferencing.
Chief Secretary was briefed about the power scenario in the UT and the reasons for the short fall in power sector.
It was informed in the meeting that to mitigate shortfall in Jammu and Kashmir the Centre has allocated additional power to Jammu and Kashmir to meet the demand.
Chief Secretary directed the PDD to take immediate measures to provide adequate power supply during Iftaar’ and sehri timings. He also directed them to reach out to the people and explain the reasons for the short fall in power supply. He said that people will understand if they are given factual position saying that consumers should be informed of the facts through print and electronic media.
Chief Secretary directed the PDD officers to issue statements explaining the reasons of outages and the actions taken by the department and the same should be shared with social media and Information Department.
He further asked the Power Development Department (PDD) to expedite installation of meters in rural areas. He said that the meters, spared from areas where smart metering is completed, should be installed in rural areas without any delay. He directed the officers to submit action taken report within a week on the installation of 16000 meters that have been spared due to installation of smart meters.
He further directed the PDD and Jal Shakti departments to work in a coordinated manner so that water supply does not get affected due to outages as Jal Shakti schemes are power dependent. He said that dedicated feeders to PHE should be maintained well so that essential services so not suffer. He directed the officers to maintain adequate water supply to the people and take prompt action on the issues faced by the public.