SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir has completed the separation of only 34 agricultural feeders out of 151 sanctioned under the Centre’s Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY), according to data placed in the Rajya Sabha, indicating slow progress in a key rural power reform aimed at ensuring dedicated electricity supply to farm and non-farm consumers.
Replying to an unstarred question in the Upper House, Minister of State for Power Shripad Naik said the DDUGJY scheme, launched in December 2014 with an outlay of Rs 43,033 crore, envisaged strengthening sub-transmission and distribution infrastructure, separating agriculture and non-agriculture feeders, and improving rural electrification across the country.
State-wise details shared by the Ministry show that Jammu and Kashmir had 151 feeders sanctioned for separation, but only 34 have been achieved so far. This places the Union Territory among the lower performers compared to several other states that have either fully completed or made substantial progress on feeder segregation.
Nationally, 9,832 feeders were sanctioned under the scheme, of which 7,833 have been separated.
Feeder separation is aimed at providing assured and regulated supply to agricultural consumers while ensuring longer and more reliable power availability for households, small businesses and other non-agricultural users in rural areas. The Centre said a comprehensive impact assessment of the scheme found an average 39 per cent improvement in supply hours to villages after implementation, with all surveyed consumers reporting better electricity availability.
However, the slow pace of feeder segregation in Jammu and Kashmir suggests that many rural non-agricultural consumers may not yet be fully realising these benefits.
The Ministry also flagged delays in project execution in the Union Territory. While no projects in JK were reported to have crossed the 12-month delay mark, as many as 13 projects saw delays exceeding 24 months from the prescribed timeline, one of the highest figures among states and Union Territories.
Across the country, 154 projects were delayed by more than 12 months and 24 projects by more than 24 months out of a total of 673 sanctioned projects.
On fund release procedures, the government said that at the launch of the scheme, some states were given the first tranche of funds before completing all mandatory pre-conditions to ensure the timely start of works. However, Jammu and Kashmir was not among the six states that received such early releases.
The DDUGJY remains a key intervention to modernise rural power infrastructure, and completion of pending feeder separation works is expected to improve supply reliability and quality for consumers in the Union Territory.
