“In order to bridge the gap between availability and consumption of electricity, and establish a dependable power distribution system in the State necessity for power reforms at various levels is imperative”, he said and stressed on realization of revenue in consonance with the supply of energy.
The Chief Minister was speaking in the presentation meetings on these aspects, participated by all the members of Council of Ministers and top ranking government functionaries here this afternoon.
The Chief Minister emphasized the need of rolling out e-tendering mechanism adopted by the R&B Department to other departments to make the transactions transparent and functioning smooth and fast.
The Council of Ministers was briefed about the present power scenario in the State by the Commissioner Secretary Power Development Department, Basharat Ahmad Dar while the progress of e-tendering adopted in the PMGSY and R&B Departments was explained by the Principal Secretary R&B, K. B. Agarwal and officers of National Informatics Centre (NIC) in separate presentation meetings.
The Council of Ministers reviewed the power sector elaborately taking complete resume of generation, distribution, consumption, gap between availability and supply, power reforms and measures afoot to ensure comprehensive development of the sector.
The Ministers enquired about details regarding revenue realization, metering of electric installation and improving the power distribution system in the State.
It was decided in the meeting that 100 percent metering of government establishments will be ensured to account for the energy supplied to these departments. It was observed in the meeting that there is huge gap between the supply of energy to the consumers and collection of power tariff. The meeting noted with interest the measures in pipeline for power reforms and curtailing energy leakages.
The Commissioner Secretary Power Development told the meeting that the peak power demand in the State has been registered at 2550 MWs during 2010-11 against 1800 MWs in 2005-06. He said the peak demand met this year was of the order of 1500 MWs as against 1242 MWs in 2005-06 showing a remarkable increase of over 250 MWs in the supply of energy to the consumers this year.
Highlighting the importance of measures to reduce the gap between supply and availability Basharat Dar underscored the need for urgent implementation of measures to upgrade the distribution and transmission system from HT to LT levels.
He presented complete status of power scenario and expressed the hope that the completion of various grid stations and other power projects would be intensified this year.
Explaining the advantages and mechanism of e-tendering adopted in PMGSY and R&B Department under the directions of the Chief Minister, the Principal Secretary R&B, K. B. Agarwal said that 28 projects valuing over Rs. 110 crores have been launched for e-tendering since February 2011.
Agarwal said that after the comprehensive training to the departmental functionaries and contractors about e-tendering portal designed by the NIC for the department, the successful launch of e-tendering process has been kick-started. The address of the website launched foe e-tendering of PMGSY and R&B works is http://pmgsytendersjk.gov.in
He said e-procurement of materials by the R&B department is in offing and in this connection necessary steps have already been taken. “We are expecting the launch of e-procurement in the department very soon”, he told the Council of Ministers.
Agarwal said that NIC has extended all the support to the department free of cost and Government of India has also indicated the free support to Jammu and Kashmir Government Departments intending to go for e-tendering and e-procurement.
The Chief Minister asked the Minister for Information and Technology to prepare for next presentation to the Council of Ministers regarding the new initiatives for e-governance conceptualized by IT Department.
“You should unveil the bouquet of initiatives of your department in the meeting for various departments to adopt these for strengthening e-governance concept”, he told the IT Minister.
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