Chief Minister Raghubar Das has directed the officials of Power Department to identify big defaulters and act against them. Holding a review meeting on Thursday, the CM stressed on increasing revenue collection in the tune of power distribution so that widening resource gap can be filled.
“Analysis of resource gap should be done and reasons behind it should be identified. Power distribution has gone up and revenue collection should have increased as well but it is not the case. Big defaulters should be identified and action be taken against them,” said the CM.
He also talked about energy saving measures and said that lED bulbs can be distributed with Government assistance that would reduce power consumption and burden of electricity bill on the consumers. The CM, at the same time, underlined the need to tap solar energy by adopting rooftop solar panels.
“Electricity is a basic requirement and taking it to all villages is our responsibility. Jharkhand has coal stock but darkness prevails. It is not acceptable. By working on power and road fronts, we can improve the image of the State,” said Das. He also instructed the officials to not only prepare plans but also execute to ensure it within fixed timeline and accountability.
Talking about problems existing in installation of transformers, he said that it is the responsibility of the Department and not the people to collect donations for that. “We have been getting such complains every now and then. This is not the job of the consumers. Tough action should be taken against such officials and those would not just be transferred but dismissed,” said the CM and told the officials to curb corruption and mend attitude towards the consumers.
The CM also instructed to work for ensuring zero power cut to Ranchi and improve rural connectivity. Work on grid, transmission lines, sub-stations should be speeded up while removing obstacles coming in the form of forest, revenue and railway clearances. Talking about 4000 vacancies in the Department, the CM said that fast track process should be adopted to fill posts within one month.
Chief Secretary Rajiv Gauba, Principal Secretary to the CM Sanjay Kumar, his Secretary Sunil Burnwal and Principal Secretary of Energy Department SKG Rahate were also present in the review meeting.