Power woes return to pester Kashmir
With the onset of winter, power woes have returned to trouble people in Kashmir as the energy demand has shot up amid the chilly weather conditions.
Apart from the scheduled power cuts; the arbitrary and unscheduled snapping of power supply, both in metered and non-metered areas, has been giving tough time to consumers. The extended power cuts surface as an unwritten rule in Kashmir soon after the Durbar (seat of governance) shifts to Jammu in November as a bi-annual practice. For past few weeks the situation has equally worsened in rural Kashmir as well as townships and cities.
Chairing a meeting of officials from Power Development Department, chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on November 19 directed for ensuring stable and quality power supply to consumers. “Ensure supply of uninterrupted power to the consumers during winter especially to winter zones and snow bound areas,” Mehbooba had told the meeting.
But consumers from different parts of the summer capital Srinagar have been complaining of irregular power cuts for past few weeks. “We aren’t asking for more; let the department stick to its own schedule at least,” said Adil Ahmad of Dalgate, a tourists hub and a metered area.
The situation is no different in rural areas. “Not only have the duration of power cuts increased manifold, there is drastic fall in the voltage as well,” said Syed Adnan of Baramulla. “The department plays hide and seek with supply during the evening hours when we expect the service to be better.”
The failure of the state government over the years to augment the power infrastructure in Kashmir that would have allowed import of additional energy during winter to meet the demand is adding to the consumers woes. Though every year Kashmir registers a growth of 10 to 15 percent power consumers, the non-augmentation of the infrastructure is resulting in overloading of the system during the winter, when the power demand goes up, forcing the department to go for the cuts. The reports of illegal hooking and power theft by consumers in many areas were only compounding the problem, said a senior PDD official.
The official said the department was supplying over 1200 MW of energy at present which was far more than the load agreement with the consumers. “The cooperation by consumers can help us improve the situation and in particular during the evening hours and it can prove beneficial for both people as well as the department,” said the official.
The Chief Engineer M&RE (Kashmir) ShahnazGoni urged consumers for judicious use of power supply. She said the power development department had planned augmentation of some grid stations this year apart from implementation of some centrally sponsored schemes like R-APDRP which would have helped to improve the situation.
“The department has now taken some initiatives in this regard and are expecting improvement in the system by the beginning of next year,” the CE said.
