Nearly 10,000 workers of Power Corporations insured in past one month: Kansal

Reviews progress on ongoing CSS projects of PDD, directs speedy completion

Directs officers to takeover charge of completed projects to enhance distribution capacity

JAMMU, JUNE 19:  Principal Secretary Power Development Department (PDD), Rohit Kansal  informed that nearly 10,000 staff and workers of various power corporations had been insured against accidental death in the past one month. This was a unique and unprecedented step towards providing financial security to the families in the event of any death of the field workers.

The Principal Secretary was chairing a meeting to review the financial and physical progress on the ongoing Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) of Power department in Jammu and Kashmir. The Principal Secretary reviewed district-wise and circle-wise status of financial and physical status of the ongoing works under different CSS being executed by different agencies in various districts and circles of the Union Territory.

The meeting was attended by Managing Directors, JPDCL, Gurmeet Singh, MD, KPDCL, Basharat Ahmed, Chief Engineer, JPDCL Jammu, Ashwani Sachdeva, Chief Engineer, KPDCL Ajaz Ahmed , Chief Engineer, JPDCL, Manhar Gupta Chief Engineer Projects, Kashmir, Javed Ahmed, Director General Planning, PDD, Tariq Khan, Director Finance, Sultan Malik, Heads of Project Implementing Agencies (PIAs) and Project management Agencies (PMAs), SEs, EXENs and other concerned officers.

At the outset, a detailed power-point presentation was given about the targets and achievements under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana, (DDUGY), PMDP, RAPDRP, RGGVY, IPDS and other schemes undertaken in PDD in both Jammu and Kashmir divisions. It was informed that under CSS Rs. 1576.96 crore has been sanctioned for rural system strengthening projects while Rs. 1538.98 crore has been sanctioned for projects in urban areas. These include projects under the CSS such as DDUGJY and IPDS and also under special package under the Prime Minister’s Development Programme (PMDP). The projects include various distribution strengthening works such as the creation of substations, augmentation of existing stations as well as HT/LT improvements, AB cabling etc.

While reviewing physical and financial progress on CSS, Kansal noted that a majority of projects under execution were heading towards completion with most of them to be completed between September and December this year. He directed the concerned officers to remove all the bottlenecks and RoW issues and speed up the completion of the projects. He also asked the concerned engineers to prioritise works and enhance manpower for timely completion of these projects. He also asked the concerned officers to devise a system to continuously monitor and redress all pending issues including delays in payments besides removing all bottlenecks like forest clearances and land-related issues.

 Kansal made a special mention of taking over of completed projects. He emphasized that inspections of physically completed projects should be expeditiously completed.  He specifically directed the concerned chief engineers of both the corporations (JPDCL, KPDCL) to minimize the gap between completion of projects and handing over the same so all completed projects could be put for public use at the earliest.  

The Principal Secretary asked CEs of both the power distribution corporations to ensure all compliances including proper maintainence of accounts, timely audits and submission of UCs.

 Kansal emphasized that all these issues were important  and should be focused on.

The Principal Secretary made a special mention of the safety and welfare of the lowest field functionaries. He directed the officers to focus on relevant safety measures and to ensure that there is no loss of human life. He reviewed the measures enhancing safety and directed that isolators and earthing rods be provided on every 11 KV feeder in the UT. This shall ensure that the field workers  remain safe even if there is accidental touching of live lines or equipment and due to accidental charging of lines or equipment during shut down activity. He also directed the field officers to ensure that personal safety equipment be provided to all field workers.