 Early Times Report
Jammu, July 5: Residents of Meenia Mohalla in Trikuta Nagar are facing huge unscheduled power cuts while the taps are running dry.
Speaking to Early Times, some of the residents including Ashwani, Gopal Dass, Sanjeev Kumar, Raghav Gupta, Mohd Mumtaz, Raj Kumar, Manjit Singh, Surinder Gupta, Ajit Kalra, Kiran jeet, Prawar, Suman Verma, Swarna Devi, Harjeet Kour, Sita Devi, Geetu, and Rakesh Mogga, regretted that there were no "ache din" (good days) for them, contrary to what Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to all Indians.
"Most of us have installed air conditioners in our homes to get relief from heat wave during summers, but for last five to six days, due to unending power fluctuation, we cannot use ACs", they said.
They said that power hooking in the area has made their lives miserable. "There are more than 200 illegal hooks in the area. The line-men mint huge money from people who are availing electricity without meter", they said, adding that PDD officials take Rs 500 for each hook and there are more than 200 illegal connections in Meenia Mohalla, Sector 1, Trikuta Nagar.
A builder developed a colony in the area, and instead of providing electricity to the colony, the PDD connected the colony with already exhausted transformer of 250 KVa. "The transformer has already lower than required capacity, and due to hooks and overload of an entire colony with more than 150 ACs in the colony, we don't have electricity now", they said.
They alleged that PDD officials who are minting money out of illegal hooking are preventing use of insulated cabling in the area. "Almost everywhere insulated cable has been laid in the city to stop power theft and overcome T&D losses by the department. The cabling will be a relief if it is laid in our area", they said and added that the residents have taken up the matter with PDD officials to enhance capacity of transformer, but to no avail.
The residents said that apart from electricity problem, they are also facing huge water scarcity for years. "Like hooks, illegal water connections are also stealing our due and genuine share", they said and added that 20-year-old water pipes have not been replaced yet.
"At least 20 months ago, new pipes were unloaded here by PHE department, but since then the pipes are gathering rust. Not a single pipe has been replaced yet", they said.
Angry over 'missing' administration, the residents said if the government have funds for development they should initiate required works on their own. "If government cannot bear expenses of basic services to us, we will do it on our own", they said and added that some of the residents to escape unbearable summer have booked rooms in hotels. "After dinner some families from area leave for hotels to take rest there. Some of us are planning to shift to other place due to administrative apathy here", they said.
"It is unbelievable that despite having ACs at home, we use air coolers and fans to beat the heat," they added. |
