MALU KERNI
With the rising mercury making life tougher, unscheduled power cuts and blackouts have started haunting the people of Jammu region as the present ruling PDP-BJP Coalition Government has failed to fulfill its promise to provide uninterrupted power supply to the people reeling under harsh conditions.
The situation in the outskirts and remote areas is annoying as the unscheduled power cuts and blackouts have made life miserable for the residents.
Haphazard outages and lack of public information appear to be the hallmarks of the State’s Power Distribution Department, despite years of load management. Though official communication disseminated through the media puts the duration of scheduled outages at two hours per day, unscheduled outages, and emergency load reliefs are making life miserable for citizens.
Several trade organisations have also expressed deep concern over the unscheduled power cuts leading to business losses. Production houses and other small scale industries associated with business units located in the outskirt areas are also showing concern over these power cuts. These days it is a common scene on Jammu roads that people are raising slogans against PDD. There is an ever-widening gap between demand and supply. It has been observed that after the end of the Durbar move from the winter capital, the cuts start. People of the Jammu region are made to suffer the worst nightmares in scorching heat with no respite from the unscheduled power cuts. Students are the worst sufferers, particularly, those preparing for the Jammu University entrance examination.
Rita Sharma, a housewife and a resident of Greater Kailash said, “The four months of summers are more difficult and the irony is that the cut increases during these four hot months only. It is really hard to survive in such conditions.”
Neha Gupta, a working woman and a resident of Sainik Colony said, “It is very tough to manage such power cuts in this hot season and the worst thing happens when the department just acts like an audience who is silently watching the play.”
All this is happening right in front of the leaders of our State Government and still the department and government is doing nothing to deal with the situation and give some relief to the people who are paying heavy electricity bills regularly but still have no power in their homes.
