S TAHIR-UL HAQ
EARLY TIMES REPORT
BANDIPORA, Oct 31: Despite having huge revenue from registered consumers, the PDD has failed to supply the power to various villages of this north Kashmir district.
According to sources the Power Development Department doesn't adhere to the schedule due to which the students preparing for various board examinations are facing hardships.
The department concerned has installed meters in various areas of Sumbal, Sonawari and other villages and irony is that we were told that we would get power supply round the clock, but their promises turned out to be a hoax with each passing day, said sources.
They said that the fact of the matter is that the department concerned has a huge amount worth crores of rupees as revenue from its registered consumers, but despite that they fail to supply power to people.
The situation in non-metered as well as metered areas like Alooosa, Lawadara, Aragam, Nadihal, Ashtango, Sonawari, Naidkhai, Sumbal villages are facing acute power shortage, said sources.
However sources while quoting the PDD official as having said that it provides 12-17 hours power supply to metered areas while 11-12 hours of the power supply is being provided to non-metered areas, and yearly they collect the huge amount of bills from the consumers.
Unfortunate part of the story is that, there are almost four active grid stations with the capacity of 291 MVA feeding the district benefiting above forty thousand registered consumers and other consumers from the non-metered areas, local residents of Sonawari said.
They said if the power situation in the areas doesn’t improve, they would be compelled to hit the streets, we are not asking them to supply free power to us, but we are regularly paying our electricity dues, and still then after power supply in our area is dismal.
Sources further said that, our children sit near the fire to read from their books as board exams are scheduled to be held in the coming month, adding somehow children manage their studies during day time, but they immensely suffer during evening hours.
“Winter is the worst here in Kashmir, as days are short and we have to keep the wood burning for many hours, '' said local resident of Argam.
Unscheduled power cuts have become the order of the day and students are the worst sufferers, we request the higher authorities of the department concerned to look into the problem so that our children will not suffer anymore, sources told Early Times. |
