‘Delay in land transfer halts construction of Grid stations’

Srinagar, Jul 11: The Construction of several grid stations in Kashmir valley has not been started due to non-transferring of land to Power Development Department.
An official of the PDD told that for construction of 220/33KV Grid Station at Batapora Tealbal Chatarhama, the land was yet to transfer to the PDD.
“The officials recently told Divisional Commissioner Kashmir in a meeting that land owners did not accept the rates offered by the government,” the official said.
Similarly, no decision has been taken yet for transferring the land to the PDD for construction of 132/33KV grid station at Tangpora Batamaloo.
While for construction of grid station at Khanyar, the official said that file regarding transfer of industrial land to the PDD was lying with the administrative department.
An official document reveals that Divisional Commissioner Kashmir expressed “dismay” that transfer of land for the prestigious projects was not made over the years. He has directed the official to complete the process for transferring of land “on war footing” basis. “In case the land owners disagree to the official rates, compulsory mode of acquisition be adopted without any further delay,” the documents revealed as Divisional Commissioner Kashmir having directed to officials.
While, the work on Alastang grid station is yet to be completed despite passing over eight years. The work on Alastang grid station was started in 2010 for transmission of electricity to Ganderbal district. However, very least work has been done on the project over the years and missed multiple deadlines.
The PDD official further told KNS that that there is an immense load on Pampore and Zainakote power grids from where electricity is being supplied to Srinagar, Ganderbal, and Pulwama districts.
“The two power grids face overloading resulting in frequent power cuts in Srinagar and Ganderbal districts. Presently, the Ganderbal gets electricity from Zainakote grid station and remains overloaded,” the official said.
“Had these projects been completed, they would have reduced load on two existing power grids and helped the state to upgrade the power supply in the Valley,” the official said.
The official said that department had sought tenders multiple times for completion of Alastang-Mirbazaar transmission line.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Kashmir Monitor staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)