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KASHMIR

Anantnag South Kashmir, also shares the cannot be transferred to J&K in view of Chief Engineer, Power Development
same story. “There are at least 20 power “legal and financial problems”. Follow- Department, Kashmir, Hashmat Qazi
cuts between eight hours of power sup- ing which JK Legislative Council passed admitted that valley is facing shortage of
ply in a day. We don’t know when the a resolution for return of power pro- electricity. “We have availability of 1300
power will be turned off. The problem jects but nothing has been done so far in MWs and the demand reaches to 2200
has further aggravated as winter has this regard. MWs during winters. We need more
set-in,” says Ahmad. Former J&K minister and senior electricity to overcome power shortage
It is an irony that Kashmir, which gen- Congress leader Taj Mohi-ud-Din, who in Kashmir,” he said.
erates huge electricity for many Indian fought wholeheartedly for the return of He, however, refused to comment
states, fails to supply benefit of power to the power projects, said, “I tried my best over generation of electricity by NHPC.
its own people, Ahmad shared with an and people also launched a campaign for “The job of the PDD is to purchase pow-
upset tonne. return of power projects to Jammu and er then supply to people. We are also
J&K is having vast hydro power poten- Kashmir but Centre rejected it.” facing huge revenue generation gap,”
tial from where electricity is being sup- A senior official of the Power Devel- he added.
plied to several parts of India. opment Department said J&K has to Figures reveal that PDD has realised
purchase electricity worth hundreds of only 50 per cent power tariff for last
his is the reality that electric- crores annually from the Centre-owned six-years.
ity generated in J&K is illuminat- NHPC and other power corporations. The government had set target
T ing thousands of homes in Delhi, 3,700 crore as power tariff during 2015-
Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan but new 2016 but received only 1,900 crore from
union territory is suffering from want For the last nine-years, the consumers. In 2016-2017, department
of power. J&K government has realised around Rs 1400 crore from the
J&K has a hydroelectricity potential consumers against the target of 3,800
of 20,000 MWs of which around 3,000 purchased power for crore. Similarly during 2017-2018, the
MWs have been identified so far. The around 40,000 crore department realised around 2,000
National Hydro Electricity Power Cor- against the target of 4,000 crore.
poration (NHPC) generates over 2,000 from various power Similarly, J&K has second highest
MWs from its seven power projects potential of solar power in India. As per
which is almost half of the energy, the corporations. During the study conducted by the National In-
power giant (NHPC) generates from its 2017-18 and 2018-2019, stitute of Solar Energy (NISE), J&K has a
projects across India. solar power potential of 111.05 GWp, the
The successive governments in Jam- each year over 6,000 second highest in India after Rajasthan,
mu and Kashmir have been seeking crore was spent on which has the potential of 142 GWp.
return of at least two power projects An official of the Power Development
from the NHPC. power purchase Department said that government is try-
Earlier, a Cabinet Sub-Committee ing to explore the solar power sector in
(CSC) in 2011 to review the pact with view of “huge burden” of the power pur-
NHPC on all power projects had recom- “The J&K gets a share of just 13 per cent chase cost on the exchequer.
mended the government to buy back from the electricity that NHPC generates To meet the power demand and to
from the Corporation two projects — 690 in new union territory,” he said. reducing the power purchasing cost,
MW Salal and 480 MW Uri-I — at depre- For the last nine-years, Jammu and Jammu and Kashmir Energy Develop-
ciated cost of 2,566 crore. Kashmir government has purchased ment Agency (JAKEDA) has launched
Under the previous UPA Govern- power for around 40,000 crore from ‘Rooftop Solar Power Plants’ scheme.
ment, various committees like Work- various power corporations, especially The scheme is aimed so customers
ing Group on economic development the NHPC. can generate the electricity on their
of J&K, Rangarajan Committee and Task As per official figures, during 2011-12, own. Officials said under the scheme the
Force on development of the State —had 3,761.52 crore was spent on power pur- customers who intend to generate solar
recommended transfer of the two power chases. In 2012-13, expenditure on power energy and set up solar plants on roof-
projects. purchases was 4,103 crore. The power tops can get the government subsidy of
Similarly, when the PDP-BJP formed cost during 2014-15 and 2015-16 was 70 per cent. “The grid connect roof top
the government in 2015, it was in their 5,153 crore and 5,293 crore, solar power plants will generate electric-
‘Agenda of Alliance’ that one power respectively. ity on own with or without battery back-
project would be returned to J&K. During 2017-18 and 2018-2019, each up support,” officials added.
Union Power Minister had said later year over 6,000 crore was spent on
in the Parliament that power projects power purchase. LETTERS@TEHELKA.COM

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