Power Cuts Leave People Cold in Harsh Kashmir Winter

SRINAGAR — The Power Development Department (PDD) has resorted to severe unscheduled power cuts which was putting the people through an ordeal. The people are facing the outages in all districts and even the metered areas. There are complaints of curtailment even from Srinagar city.

The residents of Noorbag area of Qamarwari have said that residents face power cuts even in “ this metered area.” The PDD officials had promised 24-hour power supply to the area while in­stalling meters. “However we are facing power cuts. This is sheer discrimination,” residents said. The residents of Chanapora, Batmaloo, Hyderpora, Rambagh areas have also complained of power cuts. The people are experiencing long duration power cuts in the areas of Budgam, Chadoora, Pulwama and Kulgam as well.

The situation is not different in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district and complaints of power outages have also poured in from there. The people said that in Barmaulla even in the metered colonies of Kanlibagh, Friends Colo­ny, Noorbagh they are subjected to long hour power cuts. Residents of Sopore from the areas of Noorbagh, New Colony, Batpoora, Armpora, Khushal Mutu also complained about power cuts.

The power cuts starting become more frequent since the shifting of offices from Srinagar to Jammu as part of the annual Durbar Move arrangements. The prolonged power cuts have made the life of people miserable especially in the “cold weather con­ditions.” “We face power cuts at least 15 times in a day,” said, Mush­taf Ahmad, a resident of Karanagar. He said that the area is a “metered area and the government should provide round the clock electricity as per the rules.” Another resident, Shabir Ahmad, of Sanatnagar, said that they face power outrages at least 10-12 times in a day. He said that the area faces power cuts both during morning and evening hours.

The situation remains equally grim in other metered areas of Ra­jbagh, Natipora, Batamaloo, Bemina and Habak. The situation was worse in non-metered areas where people face 10-12 hour power cuts in a day.

Earlier the Power Development Department said that it was facing a deficit of 900 Mw of electricity due to which it has to resort to the frequent power cuts. PDD chief Engineer, Hashmat Qazi, said that the people are “resorting to overload during winters” despite the fact that the department is currently facing power deficit of 900 Megawatt (MW) in Kashmir. Though the PDD had said that in the metered areas, there would be six hour curtailment and in non-metered one nine hour cuts, resi­dents said that the outages were longer in duration. The PDD said that they were resorting to rou­tine cuts. They said that “people are resorting to theft and hooking and during the winter months we have seen that even in posh colo­nies people resort to hooking re­sulting problem in irregular supply of electricity.

PDP Worried Over Worsening Power Scenario

The People’s Demo­cratic Party (PDP) Saturday ex­pressed concern over the “ worst power scenario” in Kashmir. In a statement, the party while urg­ing the workers and activists to stay united during the pres­ent time of tough ordeals, also said that “conspiracies aimed at undermining the importance of PDP will miserably fail on ground this time again.”

Addressing party workers at Char-e-Sharief’s Nagam area, PDP General Secretary Ghulam Nabi Lone Hanjura said that the party has “since its inception been representing the wishes of the people of the state and the party will continue to scale new horizons no matter how much hurdles are put in its way.”

“PDP is the party which has been speaking truth to power since the day it was founded. It never has bartered its principles for petty power and it will al­ways provide a bulwark against the swirling tides in the state,” Hanjura said. The PDP General secretary also expressed con­cern over the paucity of power and water in several areas of central Kashmiri including Char-e-Shareif, stating that the people reel under darkness and the gov­ernment continues to remain in slumber. Meanwhile, Hanjura has expressed serious concern over the vandalizing of the house of its Kanir Chadoora Halqa Presi­dent Manzoor Ahmad Mir by the army on the intervening night of Jan 11 and 12. He added that the army besides vandalizing Mir’s house also thrashed his family members and his sons too were mercilessly beaten to pulp sans any reason. “This reign of terror must end as it goes contrary to the claims of the governor Ma­lik and is falsifying his claims of peace and tranquility in the state,” Hanjura said.

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