Srinagar – People in this capital city have expressed dismay over the announcement of new schedule of power curtailment by Power Development Department. Come as it does at a time when the people are already facing a crisis over the availability of cooking gas in the wake of cap on subsidized cylinders, the load shedding program has come as a shock to consumers.
Talking to KNS, a group of traders in the citys commercial hub, Lal Chowk, said the PDD authorities have notified the new schedule months ahead of the winter that too when people were facing the LGP crisis. Normally, we would use gas stoves to keep our premises warm during the harsh winter. But with the LPG become scarce, we would be unable to carry on our businesses, they said, adding the voltage of power would also fall with the passage of time culminating into more problems for the trading community.
More often than not, they said, transformers got damaged due to overloading because of which the affected localities would remain dark for days and weeks together. In some cases, consumers are made to raise money for getting their transformers repaired and restored while the authorities prefer to look the other way.
Quoting official sources, reports said the government had no policy for power supply in the state. While the valley would be facing acute shortage of power, the government would flee from here to the warmer winter capital. On the other hand, the government has failed to take back the major power projects from the government of India and its power giant, NHPC, which is looting the water resources of the state and leaving the state people high and dry.
On the realization of power tariff, the situation is no different. Sources said while the common consumers have been paying their tariff dues regularly, various government departments and institutions had failed to pay their dues and still enjoy availability of power. (KNS)
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