“Discriminating people of too many income groups against one particular income group goes against the basic spirits of populism of any popular Government in any part of the world and same holds good for Omar led Jammu & Kashmir UT Government as well.”
The announcement of the Lt Governor Manoj Sinha during his recent address to the maiden session of J&K UT Assembly that consumers of BPL category would get 200 units free power has disappointed consumers of higher income groups and as such the policy deserves an immediate review for the purposes of uniformity in free power facility across Jammu & Kashmir. Discriminating people of too many income groups against one particular income group goes against the basic spirits of populism of any popular Government in any part of the world and same holds good for Omar led Jammu & Kashmir UT Government as well. While Chief Minister Omar Abdullah personally overseeing the scheduled power curtailment school is undoubtedly one good practice for smoothening power supply during peak winter months in Kashmir Valley, the uniformity in the free power supply of 200 units a mnonth could be just another good practice of smoothening the power tariff system in Jammu & Kashmir. For bringing about uniformity in the free power supply all depends on review of the free power supply of 200 units for consumers of all income groups by Kashmir Development Power Corporation Ltd (KPDCL) in Kashmir Valley and Jammu Power Development Corporation Ltd (JPDCL) in Jammu division. The uniformity in free power supply of 200 units obviously demands additional budgetary support from the Central Government but unfortunately Chief Minister during his discussions at the recently held meeting of the power ministers in Delhi did not take up the demand for additional budgetary support for uniformity in free power supply. Already grappling with the crisis of managing additional 2300 MWs of power from the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) the Jammu & Kashmir Government itself managing just 1200 MWs is presently banking upon its power Purchase Agreements with the NHPC, the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and a 70-MW deal with the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCI). So additional budgetary support from the Central Government would be crucial for both 200 units free power supply to consumers of all income groups and as well as supply of 2300 MWs additional hydropower facility through power purchase agreements .
“Banking upon the hydropower availability as usual and restricting the extension of solar power facilities to only Government buildings would create a lot of hurdles in the implementation of 200 free power to consumers of all income groups in future for the incumbent for incumbent Omar Abdullah led Government in Jammu & Kashmir. Ultimately this year the power supply would be all about managing additional 2300 MWS power for peak winter months through Power Purchase Agreements with NHPC , the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and a 70-MW deal with the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCI) besides uniformity in implementation of 200 free power supplies.”
While Chief Minister has not talked about the return of power projected as per the stated position of his own party at the Powers Minister’s Conference in Delhi, he has not unfortunately also talked about enhancement of the power supply from National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC). Banking upon the hydropower availability as usual and restricting the extension of solar power facilities to only Government buildings would create a lot of hurdles in the implementation of 200 free power to consumers of all income groups in future for the incumbent for incumbent Omar Abdullah led Government in Jammu & Kashmir. Ultimately this year the power supply would be all about managing additional 2300 MWS power for peak winter months through Power Purchase Agreements with NHPC , the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and a 70-MW deal with the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCI) besides uniformity in implementation of 200 free power supplies.
Shafqat Bukhari
