J& K has potential to provide electricity to country: Modi
Srinagar, May 19: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said Jammu and Kashmir has the potential not only to generate electricity to meet its own needs, but also to provide power to other parts of the country.
The government is making efforts to ensure that all households in the state are electrified, as the focus is to improve the existing power distribution system, the prime minister said.
“Jammu and Kashmir has many rivers that have potential for electricity generation. This state has the potential not only to meet its own requirements, but can also produce power for the rest of the country,” he said. “Keeping this in mind, we have been working on several projects for the past four years,” Modi said after inaugurating the 330MW Kishanganga power project here.
He said that work on the 1,000- MW Pakal Dul power project in Kishtwar district will start soon.
“We are also making efforts to provide uninterrupted electricity supply to every household in Jammu and Kashmir, and advanced technologies such as smart meters are being used, and street lights are being modernised. “` 4,000 crore is being spent on improving the power distribution network in J& K so that every village and town of the state is lit up,” he said. The prime minister said that the government was not only working on providing electricity to households in villages of the state, but also to ensure power bills do not become a burden on these households. “Under the Ujala scheme, we have provided over 78 lakh LED bulbs and this has saved electricity to the tune of ` 400 crore every year. Electricity connections are being provided free of cost to households in the state that were hitherto not electrified,” Modi said.