S.Tahir-Ul Haq
Early Times Report
KUPWARA, Mar 15: The Chowkibal-Tangdhar road was re-opened to traffic Friday afternoon after two weeks, but the power supply in many far flung areas of Tangdhar and Keran has not been restored so far. Most of the villages in this border district of north Kashmir are grappling with darkness due to non-availability of electricity which got disrupted due to heavy snowfall in the past weeks.
According to sources, heavy snowfall snapped vital electricity lines in most of the far flung villages of Kupwara district. The upper reaches have received the heaviest snowfall in the past weeks, which threw life out of gear and triggered high-danger avalanches and snow-sliding at various places due to which electric poles were damaged. Unfortunately, Power Development Department (PDD) authorities claimed that supply to most of the areas in north Kashmir had been restored but the fact is that PDD will take more time in restoration of electricity in the bordering areas which are still cut off from rest of the valley, sources said. Manzoor Khan of Tangdhar told early Times over telephone that electrical poles in many villages there got damaged due to heavy snowfall. Tangdhar and Sadna Top recorded between 10 to 11 feet of snow last week. The areas where the electric supply remained disrupted included Dringal, Pradd, Daniey, Newgabra, Chamkote, Kramma, Bringla, Jadda, Nethiya and other villages of Tangdhar and Keran of Kupwara district, Khan said. Sijad Ahmad of Keran said that even in areas where the supply was restored, electricity continued to play hide and seek. "The power supply in our area has been disrupted for a long time but the PDD authorities do not pay any heed to our woes," said a local resident of Newgabra. Meanwhile, a senior PDD official said that due to snow avalanches at various places, "we cannot put our men in risk but at the same time we are working round-the-clock to restore the power supply in far-flung areas of Tangdhar and Keran". Officials, however, said that electricity supply in Kupwara town and other villages was restored a few days back. "Basically we have to repair the old wooden electricity poles and fix iron poles at many places so that they were not damaged by snow. Our men are in the field to assess the extent of damages," they added. |
