Given the policy paralysis at the highest level of the government, which has failed to provide necessary funds for infrastructure upgrade, nearly 50 lakh people in the Jammu region may face a major power shutdown in the near future as most of the equipment at Gladni, Udhampur and Janipur grid stations have outlived their lives and there has been no major maintenance for the past two decades. Sources said no action has been taken to replace transformers, switch gears and circuit breakers installed since the establishment of grid stations, which supply electricity to half of the population of the state. J&K has the highest transmission and distribution (T&D) losses in the country at 63 per cent and the reason is the old distribution network. Regular and periodic maintenance of the transmission system is of utmost importance for un-interrupted operation of the supply system, which is given importance in every other state of the country. Report of the Committee “For updating the best practices of transmission in the country”, apart from scheduled patrolling of lines has prescribed various techniques for protection of lines, including hot line maintenance, washing, puncture detection of insulators, besides preventative maintenance by using portable earthling hot tools, vibration measurement of the line, thermo scanning and pollution measurement of the equipment. “Chief Minister Omar Abdullah often says that curbing T&D losses in the power sector is a priority, but the fact is these are only table talks. There is nothing on the ground when it comes to maintenance of grid stations, often referred as the heart of the electricity supply,” said a senior officer of the Power Department. The issue was also taken up by Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) to which the executive engineers of the divisions concerned (grid stations) had replied that the work of change of obsolete equipment could not be taken up due to non-accord of Techno-Economic Clearance (TEC) to the projects and the non-release of funds by the Power Development Department (PDD). “The Chief Engineer, Kashmir (S&O) wing, said against the requirement of 3 per cent of the cost of assets for maintenance annually, only 0.5 per cent was provided for the purpose,” says the CAG report on power sector. Chief Engineer (Jammu) Sehnaz Goni accepted that fund shortage was a problem. Goni said more information on the issue could be given by the Chief Engineer (Systems & Operations), Ajay Gupta. However, Gupta was not available for comments. The state has utilised only 49 per cent of the funds made available by the Centre during the 11th Five-Year plan (2007-12) for revamping power infrastructure. The under-utilisation is mostly due to unplanned project formulation. Power Pangs * J&K has the highest transmission and distribution losses in the country at 63% * No action has been taken to replace transformers, switch gears and circuit breakers installed since the establishment of grid stations * Against the requirement of 3% of the cost of assets for maintenance annually, only 0.5 per cent is provided for the purpose