Srinagar, June 12 (IANS) Union Minister of Power and Housing and Urban Affairs Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday urged the Jammu and Kashmir government to effectively utilise the huge hydro-power potential of the Union Territory.

He said that UT should work in coordination with the Centre for skill development and capacity building of the local workforce for hydro projects.

He also asked the UT administration to resolve pending issues in the ongoing projects of NHPC to speed up their completion. He requested the UT to consider waiving-off of water cess levied on hydro projects which would help reduce the power supply costs and ultimately tariffs for the consumers.

The Union Minister assured the continued support and cooperation of the government of India in the overall development of the UT and wished for the well-being of its people.

He also inaugurated various projects for power grid expansion in the UT to ensure better power supply.

He urged the UT to plan for capacity augmentation as per the Resource Adequacy plan. He congratulated the UT for making concerted efforts for reducing power purchase costs and reducing the gap between power purchase costs and revenue realised which would help improve finances of the Power Utilities and also facilitate reliable power supply in J&K.

He also advised UT to take up prepaid smart metering works in a time bound manner, starting with Government establishments and subsequently for the commercial & industrial consumers. Based on experience and demonstration of benefits, the smart meters may be rolled out to other category of consumers.

He mentioned UT should expedite payment of pending Government department dues and saturate prepaid meters for all government establishments and government colonies by August 2025.

J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and senior officials of the Union Territory and representatives of state power utilities and Central public sector enterprises were present at the meeting with the Union Minister.

Manohar Lal Khattar reviewed the urban development and power sector scenario for Jammu & Kashmir here. The UT also highlighted concerns and major achievements related to urban and power sectors and the possible solutions so as to meet future demand.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah thanked the Union Minister for his visit to Srinagar for review of UT of Jammu and Kashmir in respect of issues related to the urban & power sector and also highlighted major concerns for the UT.

The UT requested for support from the Centre for upgradation of the power distribution and transmission sector. It was also emphasise remarked that the UT would make all out efforts for improvement in the sector.

–IANS

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