By Jaideep Sarin, IANS
Shergarh (Haryana) : A silent but charged revolution is sweeping through Haryana. Called the 'kaali taar' or black wire, villages and urban areas are opting for this technology to ensure regular and smooth power supply.
What's more, it is showing the way out of a persistent problem in the state: making people pay their electricity bills.
The 'kaali taar' is nothing but a high voltage distribution system (HVDS) wire. Ask the residents of Shergarh village near Kaithal, 100 km from here, and they'll happily tell you all about it. "The quality of power supply is much better and there are no fluctuations. All users seem happy with the new system," village resident Dhan Singh told IANS.
Being the first village in the state to get HVDS wire and 13 new transformers of 25 kv capacity, power supply to the village has improved.
The kaali taar is an 11,000 kv power supply line. The black insulation on the wire gives it the more common name.
HVDS electricity is distributed through various transformers, each one of which caters to 12-16 consumers. Whereas earlier the state was losing a lot of electricity to illegal connections, the insulation on the kaali taar prevents people from doing so. This also prevents overburdening of transformers, as a result ensuring a smooth supply.
The results are there for all to see. This village – having 201 households – is now paying for power regularly, marking an increase of nearly 250 percent in the revenue realised from electricity bills. After installation of the HVDS wire, 84 households out of 93 that did not have power connections earlier have opted for the new system. The power units sold to consumers have increased by nearly 150 percent under the new system.
The project is being implemented in 82 villages and 22 urban areas in north Haryana and 28 villages in south Haryana.
Duloth Ahir and Seka villages in Mahendergarh district of south Haryana are among those that have been provided this facility. In Duloth Ahir, it costs the power distribution agency only Rs.5 million (Rs. 5 lakhs).
"We are now being approached by people in a number of villages across the state for putting up the 'kaali taar' and new transformers. Everyone wants to be part of this change. The system ensures that quality power lights up their homes," a satisfied Ashok Lavasa, financial commissioner and principal secretary for power, told IANS.
The success of HVDS can be seen from the plans of Haryana's power department to install the system along with new transformers in up to 600 villages and urban localities.
"The critical factor in the project is that it has inculcated a habit among consumers to pay bills regularly because they are getting regular and better power supply. The majority of consumers want to be on the right side of law," Lavasa pointed out.
The Haryana government had in June 2005 announced a Rs.16 billion waiver scheme to electricity consumers who had not paid their bills for a decade prior to that.
Of the 1.35 million defaulters among the state's 4.1 million consumers, 921,000 consumers have joined the scheme by paying 10 electricity bills continuously since June 2005.