The Electricity Playing Hide and Seek - Early Times Newspaper Jammu Kashmir

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The Electricity Playing Hide and Seek

4/22/2022 12:10:42 AM

Omkar Dattatray

Come summer and the electricity is haywire and it is seldom seen to operate the gadgets of electricity that provide some relief to the people from scorching heat. Even for the necessaries of life like water consumers feel the pain because of the irregular supply of the power and the people fail to get adequate water for drinking, bathing and for performing other functions which are totally dependent on water and the water is dependent on the electricity as the water motors function only with electricity. The need and importance of electricity is very great in hot summers and it is indispensable for the lives of the people and its irregularity and absence gives pain to the consumers. This summer the unscheduled cuts in electricity have begun in April and perhaps it is the first time that electricity is playing hide and seek in the month of April and putting the public to great inconvenience and sufferings and people fear that the absence of regular electricity will make the life of people miserable in the coming months of the summer when mercury rises further and it becomes very difficult to pass life with irregular and unscheduled electricity. There should be uninterrupted supply of electricity in the summer season but it is the fact that the power supply is most erratic in the months of severe heat and it becomes very difficult for the people to spend life in the absence of regular electricity when the mercury goes up in summer season. The consumers feel the pain of inadequate power supply and they are forced to tolerate the sufferings in the absence of the regular electricity. The fact is that the consumers by and large pay the electricity tariff in time at higher rates but they are not provided the adequate supply of power by the power development department and this lands the consumers of Jammu province in trouble as they have to bear the scorching heat in absence of the regular electricity. Sadly this year the erratic supply of electricity and the unscheduled power cuts began earlier in the April month which otherwise used to remained good so for as the position of electricity and rising of temperatures is concerned. These unscheduled and the scheduled power cuts put consumers to great trouble as they have to bear and tolerate the heat of summer in Jammu without the regular power supply for many hours of the day and night. The poor and hapless consumers have to bear the brunt of irregular and erratic power supply in the summer in Jammu province and their protests for regular power supply fell flat on the ears of the power development department. The government has declared Jammu and Srinagar as smart cities with all the modern facilities and the work on making Jammu and Srinagar as smart cities has begun but Jammu is reeling under the electricity shortage and people are suffering a lot in the absence of regular electricity. The people are facing untold sufferings in the absence of the regular electricity in the beginning of this summer month of April which otherwise used to be having somewhat adequate electricity and the problem of irregular and erratic power supply was in the earlier years experienced in the month of May which is one of the hottest months. The people fear that if the position of electricity remains such as it is today in the beginning of the hot summer month of April, one could better imagine the worst power position in the summer months ahead. Government has still to complete the smart metering and thus in the absence of smart metering the consumers have to bear the brunt of the irregular and unscheduled power supply in the summer season and because of the inadequate and irregular power supply the consumers are facing untold sufferings and hardships and there seems no one to free the people from the woes of inadequate and erratic electricity and thus they have but to face the sufferings and hardships due to the irregular power supply.
Notwithstanding the tall claims of the government of providing 24 x 7 electricity to consumers the ground situation and position of electricity is far from this as the consumers are facing the difficulties and hardships because of the irregular and erratic power supply and the claims of the government are punctured and the plight of the consumers is going bad from worse because of the inadequate electricity supply. One one hand the consumers are paying the electricity bills in time and on the other side their woes are compounded due to the inadequate and interrupted power supply and the burden of the non availability of electricity 24x 7 has made the life of Jammuites very difficult as they have to live without adequate electricity in the scorching heat of summer. The government should on a war footing take required steps to provide adequate electric supply to the consumers in the summer months so that the people are relieved from the trouble of scant electricity. But as of now there seems little hope of improving the power scenario because there is shortage of electricity and the people have to face scheduled, unscheduled, erratic and interrupted power supply and there seems no way out from the crises of the electricity in the coming summer if the present inadequate and erratic power supply is any indication. The government is failing to harness the hydro electric power potential of the Jammu and Kashmir and the result is this that the people of the Union territory have to face the erratic power supply in the summer months. The government spends huge amounts of finance on the production of the hydroelectric power and uses the water sources for producing of the required electricity but in spite of all this the position of the power scenario is worsening day by day and putting the consumers to trouble because the people have to spend many hours of the summer days and nights without the required electricity. The plight of the people is very bad because of the power woes in the summer months as the problem of electricity gets compounded in the summer and the government is not in a position to mitigate the power woes of the consumers. The hapless consumers have to bear the brunt of the inadequacy and erratic power supply in the summer season when the demand of the power increases manifold. The people suffer unimaginable sufferings and hardships due to the inadequate power supply and also because of the erratic power supply which has become a norm and routine in the summers in Jammu and this is of grave and great concern to the consumers who are made to suffer because of the inadequate power supply and also because of the scheduled and unscheduled electric supply in the hot season. The government is making efforts to electrify all villages and remotest areas and is about to make the country and this UT of Jammu and Kashmir to get hundred percent electricity.
Thus on one side the government is embarking on to make the country cent percent electrify but on the other side it fails to provide the required and adequate electric supply to the already electrified places even the cities and towns. The consumers and the general public is made to suffer due to the bad policies of the government so for as the provision of the adequate and uninterrupted electric supply is concerned. The provision and the declaration of providing 24X7 electricity is a mirage and is utopian as there seems no way to attain the uninterrupted and hassle free power supply especially in the summer season when mercury touches very high. During the summers the people should be provided hassle free and uninterrupted electricity so that they live with ease. But this is not so because there is shortage of the electricity and the people are forced to spend the days and nights with erratic and scheduled and unscheduled power supply and this reflects on the sad plight of the consumers. The power woes are huge and these get compounded during hot and long summers and the poor consumers are left with no choice but to bear the brunt of inadequate and erratic power supply. Every year the government is laying foundations of the hydroelectric projects but without any fruitful results. Jammu and Kashmir cannot be made an electric surplus UT without the sincere efforts of the government. However time and again the government is saying that Jammu and Kashmir can become an electricity producing and supplying UT. It can produce and supply power to other states as well but it seems to be a mere dream.
The prime minister Modi is going to lay the foundation stone of 850MWRatle Hydroelectric Project on river Chenab through the joint venture of NHPC and JKHDPC at an estimated cost of rupees 5281 Crore on 24 th of April and with the completion of this project it is hoped to make Jammu and Kashmir can become an electricity surplus and it can supply power to other states. The consumers should also co-operate with the government and use the electricity very judiciously and should not use electric gadgets at the peak hours and should not indulge in electric theft. The people are thinking to give a chance of political power to AAP of Arvind Kejriwal so that they will get free electricity up to at least 300 units and our political masters of the present should be prepared for this political change. The government is also mulling to privatize the power production and distribution but one wonders if this will make any difference to the power position? Anyway it can be concluded that the electricity is playing hide and seek in these days of hot summers in Jammu division and the PDD should take necessary steps to alleviate the sufferings of the people due to inadequate and erratic power supply. However is the government listening is the mute question?

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