Early Times Report
Jammu, Apr 28: Even as following a similar power crisis in Jammu during last summer, the Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha had ordered a high level inquiry, this time there’s silence as the official heading the power affairs is believed to be a “close aid” of the Raj Bhawan.
In June last year, following a power crises in Jammu, the Lieutenant-Governor Manoj Sinha had assured the people of Jammu division that a committee would be constituted by the Chief Secretary to enquire into the unscheduled power outage in various areas. Earlier that year, several meetings were held to plan on preventing erratic electricity supply in the Jammu division in May-June when the mercury soars.
“Unscheduled power cuts that Jammu faced was not normal. That's why, I have asked the Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta to constitute a committee to inquire into the matter and those found responsible should be given the highest punishment. I want to assure the people that your sweat will not go in vain and officers responsible for your suffering will be punished soon," the Lt Governor had said.
But this time, when apart from Jammu even Kashmir is facing power crises, the Raj Bhawan is silent on fixing responsibility for the mess. And the LG is yet to formally comment on the issue, when even the industrial sector is at the verge of closure in Jammu.
Some senior officials at the Civil Secretariat told the Early Times that it was the responsibility of the Power Development Department to have done “homework in time” for ensuring the Jammu and Kashmir gets adequate supplies from the Northern Grid this summer.
“It’s essentially due to the callous approach of the PDD that Jammu and Kashmir is into so much of crises… Had PDD been on the tips to maintain appropriate relations with the Northern Grid this would not have been the crises because summer demand for more power is nothing new for our country,” the officials said.
The Jammu and Kashmir government, however, has been saying that the power crises was being witnessed across the country and that efforts were on to give respite to the people of J&K. |
