Abdul Majid
Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, May 13: Successive regimes could be neglecting Jammu when it comes to demands for improvement in power supplies in the state, but the fact remains that this province pays the highest tariff -more than that collected from Kashmir and Ladakh regions. This is what the latest figures with the Power Development Department (PDD) reveal.
Official documents, a copy of which lies with Early Times, reveal that in the previous 2014-2015 fiscal Jammu paid a grand total of Rs 1,02,171.73 lakhs as tariff towards the state government whereas Kashmir paid only 71,556.17 lakhs, which is 30 % less. Ladakh region, including Leh and Kargil, on the other hand, paid only around Rs 200 lakhs.
In the Industrial category Kashmir has paid Rs 9,888.98 lakhs whereas Jammu paid Rs 32,281.61, which makes a huge difference of 70 %. Likewise in the Commercial category, the winter capital has taken lead by paying Rs 12,089.58 lakhs whereas Kashmir paid 11,443.31, a difference of 6 %.
In the Public Water Works category, Jammu has paid 72 % more: As against Rs 3,258.99 lakhs revenue collected from Kashmir, Jammu paid Rs 12,013.66 lakhs.
Official sources in the Civil Secretariat said over the past two odd decades of turmoil in Kashmir, the other province has been paying more, all the times. "Basically in the garb of pretending to be victims of militancy various quarters in Kashmir have been paying lesser fee by one way or the other whereas Jammu didn't enjoy any such advantages ever," said the official pleading anonymity.
"Still," he said, "whenever it comes to improvement of power supplies, Jammu consumers have been a neglected lot." "Uninterrupted power supply is still a distant dream as Jammuties are subjected to forced cuts, more so during summers when the need of electricity is more," the official regretted.
Officials in PDD Jammu complained that their performance on revenue generation was never acknowledged by successive regimes. "We work hard to collect the highest Revenue but no government ever acknowledged our feat," said a group of PDD officials.
Over the years successive regimes have been giving a notion that Kashmir generates highest revenue in the power sector. Officials in PDD Kashmir uphold this self-satisfying excuse. Unwilling to accept the reality that Jammu pays the most, they said Kashmir pays the highest in Domestic category. "Real work is domestic revenue generation because there the fee has to be collected bit-by-bit, which is unlike of other sectors like the industrial where you get bulk fee," pleaded a PDD official in Kashmir.
He said this year again Kashmir paid more in the Domestic category. "Kashmir paid Rs 27,378.46 lakhs and this sum is 31 percent more than that of Jammu, which only paid Rs 20,861.88 lakhs," the official said. |
