Bairaj Chawalgami
Come Winter and Summer and in both the seasons the capital cities of Jammu as well as Srinagar are facing acute,intense and unprecedented electricity crisis.The, public that is the electricity consumers in both the cities are best with the alarming electricity crises and the people are suffering for no fault of theirs.All talks and claims of the JKPDC and PDD of providing uninterrupted power supply to the consumers of at least Jammu and Srinagar are falling flat. In fact, it is not only Jammu and Srinagar cities alone which experience electricity woes but the whole of Jammu and Kashmir UT facing unprecedented electricity crise and currently Jammu and Kashmir is reeling under electricity crises. The UT of Jammu and Kashmir is experiencing a severe,chronic, and worsening electricity crisis as of early 2026,with both Srinagar and Jammu facing frequent, long -duration power outage,particularly during peak winter months. Despite the region being a major producer of hydroelectricity, the demand far exceeds supply,leading to significant, sometimes 14-16 -hour,daily power cuts in the valleyand severe shortages in Jammu. Kashmir valley [Srinagar] is reeling under an ”unprecedented ”power crisis.In January 2026, heavy snowfall caused the power grid to collapse to less than 6% of its capacity,with active load plunging below 100MW against a demand of 100MW, breaking a prolonged dry spell.Even before snow,5-6 hour, sometimes up to 16-hour outage were reported.Residents of Jammu are facing 8-9hour scheduled and unscheduled cuts, with rural areas hit harder. The situation is aggravated by high temperaturesin summer and low supply, causing major disruptions to water supply and daily life. The, crisis has paralysed daily life, hundred business operations affected.The UT of J&K including its capital cities ,Jammu and Srinagar ,is currently grappling with a severe ,recurring electricity crisis, characterised by significant power deficits ,frequent and often unscheduled ,power cuts during winter and summer seasons.Despite having vast hydropower potential ,the region relies on heavy imports and suffers from aging infrastructure,leading to massive T&D losses and public dissatisfaction.It is unfortunate and disturbing that despite smart metering in both the cities and their municipal jurisdiction the power situation is going from bad to worse and the consumers are the biggest sufferers.Consumers, of both the cities honestly pay electricity bills but what they get from the authorities is hide and seek of the electricity and the public is becoming restive and they are becoming patience less.It is a sorry state of affairs that in winters both in Srinagar as well as in Jammu,the consumers are subjected to scheduled and unscheduled power cuts putting the public of both these cities to inconvenience and trouble.It is very sad and disturbing that at the peak hours and otherwise also the electricity remains conspicuously absent with the result that public is made to suffer despite the hallow and shallow assurances of the men at the helm of affairs that with the smart metering,there will be improvement in the electricity supply and distribution and transmission but what we experience actually is the acute shortage of electricity which makes the people’s lives difficult.All talk of uninterrupted electricity has vanished and has fell flat as the consumers despite paying hefty amounts as electricity freight are beset with the problem of electricity curtailments off and on with the result when the people need electricity most,there is unprecedented electricity crises troubling the honest consumers in both the cities of Jammu and Srinagar.PDD &JKPDC seems unconcerned and they are in great slumber and they do not take serious and concerted steps to augment the electricity supply in winters as well as summers and the result is that people suffer in both summer as well as winter in both the cities of Jammu and Srinagar.It is very unfortunate that PDD and JKPDC both are taking a lenient view and take the electricity crises casually with the result the public in both Jammu and Srinagar are facing hardships and inconveniences.The authorities and the power minister should awake from slumber and tackle the electricity crises on a war footing.People no longer should be subjected to frequent power curtailments both during the day and night as it compounds their difficulties and hardships.Now that there is smart metering in place in both Jammu and Srinagar and so the public should not be subjected to scheduled and unscheduled power cuts and that too at peak hours when people need electricity most.The authorities should leave inertia and see the problem from the angle of humanity and take earnest steps to improve the positionof electricity and tide over the situation and provide uninterrupted electricity to consumers in both Jammu and Srinagar.One fails to understand when the consumers are paying electricity bills that also on time,why they are not provided uninterrupted power supply.Before it is too late the government should step in and tide over the situation and improve the electricity supply so that the consumers do not face inconvenience due to intense and acute electricity supply.The public is cursing themselves and their elected government and representatives and they lament that they are the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir ,where it seems to be no concern of the authorities to improve the electricity position.The position of electricity is going from bad to worse with each passing day and the authorities seem to be helpless watchers and they are actually doing nothing to improve the power situation with the result the patience of the consumers is waning.Government should intervene and improve the power situation so that the consumers do not suffer for no fault of theirs.But the million dollar question is are the authorities at the helm of affairs listening and if they are listening,will they wake up from slumber and put in their efforts to improve the electricity situation so that the innocent and hapless public will not suffer any more? Something positive is expected from the powers and it is fervently appealed to Power minister to intervene and pass on stringent directions to the concerned agencies to take urgent and immediate steps to mitigate the electricity woes of the consumers so that they can heave a sigh of relief. We should be responsible and socially aware consumers who should have civic sense and should make a judicious use of electricity and should switch off the electric gadgets at peak hours and thus cooperate with the government so that there is minimum power curtailment and the public does not suffer.JKPDC/PDD has outsourced the erection of aluminium electric polls and the private players are erecting new polls and have fitted the new cable in all most all areas of Jammu and Srinagar.But to the great dismay the old cemented and torn out broken polls have also been kept intact.The JKPDC/PDD should take out the old cemented polls as they are becoming a public nuisance and risk.Hope the authorities will uproot the old cemented polls and it will be a great service to public A major point of contention is that J&K has a massive ,hydro -power ,potential estimated at 20,000MW,but ,it only ,controls a fraction of it ,with many projects managed bt the NHPC .Leading to ,demands ,for ,return ,of these projects. To sum up,it can be said that the government is appealed to improve the electricity situation and there is minimum cut of the electricity and the culture of frequent electricity cuts should be given a good bye so that the public does not suffer from the shortage and frequent schedule and unscheduled power cuts.Hope the JKPDC/PDD will seize the opportunity and lessen frequent power cuts and give a big relief to the consumers of both Jammu and Srinagar.Thus the government should pay attention towards the electricity woes of the consumers of Jammu and Srinagar so that there is no electricity crises and the deplorable position of power is rectified and corrected at an earliest.
