The Union Territory of Ladakh is set to get projects worth Rs.1,172 crore under the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS), reliable media reports suggest.
Of the Rs.1,172.12 crore worth of projects, around Rs.144.60 crore has been proposed for loss reduction works, Rs.627.64 crores for electrification of the Changthang region, and Rs.58.50 crore for works in Zanskar region.
In modernisation and system strengthening component works worth Rs.341.47 crore has been proposed for the Union Territory, it is learnt.
Ladakh envisages to gradually reduce its AT&C losses from 48.17 per cent in the base year 2020-21 to 27.85 per cent by 2024-25. The UT has also envisaged complete household electrification by 2024.
What is RDSS?
In July 2021, The Central Government approved the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) to help discoms improve their operational efficiencies and financial sustainability by providing result-linked financial assistance to discoms to strengthen supply infrastructure based on meeting pre-qualifying criteria and achieving basic minimum benchmarks.
The scheme has an outlay of Rs.3,03,758 crore over five years i.e. FY22 to FY26. The outlay includes an estimated Government Budgetary Support (GBS) of Rs.97,631 crore.
REC and PFC have been nominated as nodal agencies for facilitating the implementation of the scheme.
The scheme aims to meet the following objectives:
- Reduction of AT&C losses to pan-India levels of 12-15% by 2024-25
- Reduction of ACS-ARR gap to zero by 2024-25
- Improvement in the quality, reliability and affordability of power supply to consumers through a financially sustainable and operationally efficient distribution sector
The scheme has the following components:
- Part A – Financial support for prepaid smart metering and system metering and up-gradation of the distribution infrastructure
- Part B – Training and capacity building and other enabling and supporting activities
Reorganization of J&K
It may be recalled that in July 2020, the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir, was reorganized into two Union Territories – UT of Jammu & Kashmir, and UT of Ladakh.
Featured photograph (source: NHPC) is for representation only