Jammu, Feb 9: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who is also the in-charge Minister for Power Development Department (PDD), on Monday assured the House that no area in Jammu and Kashmir would remain unelectrified.
ìOur effort will be to ensure that there remains no house which is deprived of electricity connection. This process will go on. It may take some time but we will reach every house to provide it with power connection,î he said.
The Chief Minister was responding to the constituency-specific question of BJP MLA from Billawar, Satish Kumar Sharma in the Legislative Assembly.
CM Omar, in a separate written reply to the question of MLA Khurshied Ahmad, also informed the House that a capacity addition of 3704.5 MW is expected through 8 proposed and 6 under construction Hydroelectric Power Projects (HEPs) in the Union Territory of J&K in the next five years viz., 2026-27 to 2030-31.
ìWith it, the combined installed generation capacity in case of hydropower is likely to reach 7314.85 MW in 2030-31,î he said.
CM Omar said, ìJ&K has 32 existing power projects with aggregate capacity of 3540.15 MW. They include 13 projects of aggregate capacity 1197 MW in the UT sector, 6 projects of aggregate capacity 2250 MW in the central sector and 12 projects of aggregate capacity 92.75 MW in the IPP (private) sector.î
Earlier, in case of earlier Billawar constituency-specific question, the MLA Satish Sharma started raising his supplementary in Dogri language and only at the end shifted to Hindi.
Rising to reply, the CM said, ìHadMLAís intention been to seek my reply to his question then he would have asked his supplementary in the language I could understand completely. But if his intention was just to play to the gallery to get his video captured and shown somewhere else, then his objective has already been accomplished.î
He said as he could not understand the language and thus also the supplementary question posed by MLA, he would repeat the same answer as was already tabled in the House.
Following this dig, BJP MLA from Billawar repeated his supplementary question in Hindi.
He alleged that he received the same reply last year also in answer to his query and only the scheme’s name was rechristened.
ìLast year I got the answer that under RDSS (Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme), we would be accommodated. After one year, they are saying that it will be done under DA-JGUA scheme. Our people want relief and their villages electrified and not the rechristening of schemes,î the MLA said.
Upon this the CM said that there was a difference between the answer given last year and in the ongoing session.
ìAs I have shared in my answer, with the increase in population, the villages expand and new households come up. They cannot be electrified overnight. It takes time and DPRs are prepared. All the villages in Jammu division of UT of J&K are electrified whether in on-grid or off-grid mode. No village as a whole remains un-electrified. However, some habitations or Morhas or households which have recently come up are un-electrified,î CM Omar said.
He said that the efforts were underway to electrify those un-electrified or partially electrified habitations or households under centrally sponsored scheme DA-JGUA or UT capex DPRs for habitations like Thingen, Kanodi and Hanok of Panchayat Madoon and Dehota were being prepared.
ìSome rural and remote habitations or morha – not villages – like Thingen, Kanodi and Hanok of Panchayat Madoon and Dchota in Billawar area are un-electrified or partially electrified. Expansion of habitations in remote areas is a continuous process which requires extension of LT network at regular intervals. The un-electrified habitations or households like Thingen, Kanodi and Hanok of Panchayat Madoon and Dehota in Billawar constituency under the jurisdiction of JPDCL Electric Division Kathua were proposed for electrification under DA-JGUA scheme and electrification of most of the un-electrified households have been approved under the DA-JGUA scheme which is being executed through JPDCL Project Division, Jammu,î the CM said.
However, some habitations like Thingen, Kanodi and Hanok of Panchayat Madoon and Dehota in Billawar constituency were dropped from the final sanctioned DPR of the DA-JGUA scheme due to cost escalation of the work, he said.
