Ministerial Brigade Silent, PDD At Odds With Itself
SRINAGAR: Having been plunged into a deep power crisis despite peak discharge in rivers, Kashmir will witness heavy and unscheduled curtailment for at least three days more.
PDD boss Muzaffar Ahmad Mattoo attributed the curtailment to a technical snag, but sources say that the Northern Grid has put the squeeze on the state government for clearing outstanding dues.
Unscheduled power cuts will continue for the next three days. The Northern Grid is demanding the payment of arrears from the PDD, officials in the government said, asking not to be named.
In downtown Srinagar, mohalla committees have decided not to pay this months power dues, saying that tariff had been hiked by nearly 60 per cent over the past four years without any corresponding improvement in supply.
Traders and industrialists too are up in arms over the heavy unscheduled power cuts forced on the valley, saying that businesses have been badly hit and huge losses incurred.
Our units are idle. Staff has to be paid even when there is no work. Customers avoid shops with no back up as every establishment cannot afford generators, traders said.
The civil society has lambasted the State Electricity Regulatory Commission, saying that hiking power fees was its only achievement.
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