SHAKEELA ANDRABI
SRINAGAR: Almost every year during winter season, people of valley complained regarding inadequate power supply and administration used to assure people that power department is committed to provide 24 hour electricity, but results on ground level always came out as quite different.
The story this year is no different, as power supply has been disrupted since last week of October. As per officials, interruption is due of transmission line upgradation and branch pruning. But Kashmir is experiencing protracted power outages, which is causing several hardships for local populace. However, Kashmir Power Development Corporation Limited (KPDCL) officials said that outages were primarily the result of works being undertaken to provide a better supply of electricity throughout winter season. Speaking to reporters, Chief Engineer KPDCL Distribution, Javid Ahmad said that power cuts were due to ongoing works which had been undertaken to augment transmission capacity during peak winter season. “Normally during October, KPDCL conducts exercise of branch pruning to prevent their falling against the transmission lines during winter. In addition to this, two of our transmission lines are under augmentation works,” he said, adding, “Transmission lines Wagoora-Zainakote and 132 KV Mir Bazar-Wanpora are offline as augmentation work is being done to increase their capacity. As these lines are situated in places where paddy is grown, we were unable to complete the job earlier and had to wait until harvest was complete.” Chief Engineer hoped that Wanpora transmission line would be made operational by November 10. He said that the schedule for winter curtailments would be released by second week of November. “Power demand has increased by 30 to 40 per cent due to steep drop in temperature. If things do not get better, we will have to consider more curtailment,” Ahmad said. He advised people to use electricity judiciously and avoid using rudimentary heating devices.
Meanwhile, locals are appalled by the protracted power outages and said that KPDCL could have scheduled this work properly to spare them from sufferings. “Winter hasn’t even started yet. One can imagine what will happen during the harsh cold winter months. The government claims to be increasing transmission capacity, but on the other hand, it does not even give good quality power supply,” said a local resident of Srinagar.