Er P L Khushu
Water and water everywhere but not even a drop to drink. That is the plight of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir which is facing the worst power crisis of the decade, when tall claims are abuzz about the empowering of this union territory with enough of developmental works and plans. Almost every day it is being claimed that Jammu and Kashmir will be made to grow abundantly in all spheres of its development shades. Lot of finances have equally been pumped in for such developmental activities in this union territory, by the government of India. Sweet claims of creating of smart cities probably appear like jokes. Better said than done. Who is going to believe it when the union territory is reeling under acute shortage of electric power both in the provinces of Kashmir and Jammu. Almost 12 hours cuts and shortages of electric power are being faced by the people of this union territory. The irony of this disastrous situation is more compounded when whatever little supply of electric power is available for usage, it comes in the shape of hide and seek, when the electric power comes for half an hour and simultaneously vanishes for another more than one hour. Such a situation almost adds insults to the injuries of the consumers, who have been pocketing such insults badly for almost every year since some years past. But now enough is enough. The tolerance of the people of both the regions viz, Kashmir and Jammu have now broken its strength, when people are almost up in their arms to severely agitate against the present set up of governance on this count. The people of Jammu and Kashmir are facing worst ever power crisis for the past about two weeks, when the people in Kashmir were made to suffer badly for want of proper power in the holy month of Ramzan, while Jammuites have been forced to face the brunt of about 12-14 hours unscheduled power cuts during these scorching hot summer days. e-Smart Metering introduced lately is of no substantial value, as the areas where these meters have been stalled, are also facing the same crisis in Jammu and Srinagar Cities. The situation has gone from bad to worse with in just one week as the UT Administration has failed to manage the crisis and provide some relief to consumers when such consumers now pay through their nose for hefty power bills after installation of Smart/Electronic Power Meters. The public anger is now rising against the Government and is forcing them to come out on the streets and lodge their protest, demanding some relief, particularly in Jammu, during these hot summer days as lakhs of people have been made to spend sleepless nights in the open due to this power crisis. Moreover, water supply has been badly hit in entire J&K. Rural areas are the worst hit. Where lies the fault? Whom to blame? The situation is like that of a tsunami, when the consumers are put to such a situation where they were caught unawares and almost between the devil and the deep sea. It is so as there is no body to listen. There is no democratic government, where people could lodge strong protests with their elected representatives or even with minister and the chief minister who would ask for the accountability of the concerned department or the officers / engineers in this behalf. Such a lapse on the part of the administration, where there is no prior signal or even a warning in this regard, is absolutely fraught with the fear of insensitivity on the part of such officers and engineers who are supposed to man and manage the regularity or evenness of power supply to the consumers. It speaks enough about the delinquency of all such officers and engineers concerned, who deserve to explain it to the public, both specific and general. It is with heavy heart to say that bureaucracy at the top level managing the planning of various people related schemes relevant to power generation and its distribution, funding, expenditure status and above all its progress from time to time, are equally accountable in this major lapse, where it could not be foreseen that the people of the union territory of J and K are going to face a malefic situation in respect of power shortage and particularly that too at a time when the seasonal situation is getting hotter and hotter in Jammu province and the Ramzan month is in operation , when the people in the valley are mostly on religious fasting and need a regular supply of electric power. Well in the present set up of governance, when there is a rule which is different from the democratic rule, which carries a legislative assembly, where the questions regarding the problems of the people are tested with accuracy on the floor of the assembly house, at least by the opposition parties and various types of lapses in the deliverance of proper justice to the people in providing appropriate civic amenities and concerned officers of all ranks particularly the higher one’s are made to work with accuracy and promptness or the cause of the welfare of the people. In the present set up of governance the bureaucrats manning the key positions in the administration of governance, in the absence of proper ministries, feel themselves above the rule of the people. Their accountability standards are limited when they feel themselves to be accountable to the authority of the Lieutenant Governor only. Thus, in such atmospheres of governance the people are bound to suffer and this present example of the shortage of electricity in the vital months of the summer season making people to cry for proper power and water is one such example in such a case or situation. It is one of such a picture in the one development sector of the state economy, what must be happening in other sectors of the developmental plans of the state. How much can the Lieutenant Governor do single handed unless he does not have a proper feedback from the bureaucrats working under him for the welfare schemes of the people as also for the amelioration of the problems being faced by the people. The government of India ruling this union territory and the union ministry of home affairs may have to gear up its supervision and hold someone in the administration at the top level responsible for such lapses, when the people of entire union territory of Jammu and Kashmir have been put to lot of discomfort and hardship due to non-availability of proper and adequate power supply. In fact, making an officer of any rank and file to sit in a chair for longer periods is at all not in favor of good and prudent deliverance of results by such officers. So is the case with the bureaucracy too. It always needs periodic overhauls and replacements. That will add to the accountability part of such officers in their role as high level administrators.
So is the case with the department of power of Jammu and Kashmir known as PDD. After having a look in the website of this department, it shows that the vision of PDD is to provide ‘Healthy and efficient power sector in J & K with reliable power generation, transmission and distribution to its consumers’. It further promises, “Supply of un-interrupted and quality power to consumers, along with the preparation of strategic plan to reduce the power deficit”. Where is this motto of the PDD? It is on papers only. There is no power; people are suffering for adequate power. If at all this little power is available to the consumers, it plays hide and seek with the consumers, probably due to faulty system of distribution, or any other technical snag in maintenance of sub stations or of the transformers and the like. This is where it shows the inadequacy of the proper maintenance of the whole system of distribution, when the tripping of the system becomes the root cause for the failure in supplying regular electric power without interruption or tripping to the consumers. Yes, one can understand the limitations of this department of power in providing adequate power to its consumers due to the shortages of the availability of adequate electric power. But such a situation of absolute break down of power supply to the consumers should have been visualized by the apex engineers of this department particularly of the ranks of Chief Engineers and the like beforehand. In fact, they should have advised the top levels in the administrative step up in higher echelons of governance well in time so that extra supplies of electricity from different sources could have been arranged before the consumers would get pounced to a situation of disaster and absolute helplessness. Appropriate scrutiny in this regard in the whole working of the PDD is very much needed so that such emergent like situations do not crop up again. It may equally mean the privatizing the whole system of providing smooth and adequate power supply to the consumers, which may not be in good taste. It is the wearer which knows as to where the shoe is pinching. People cannot be taken for a ride in this regard by the administrative set ups at various levels which mostly includes the working of the power development department. It is not only a common consumer who is suffering; the same fate is with the industrial sector as well. The members of trade and industry today came out openly against the Government and pleaded to provide some relief. The Industry is also facing production losses worth crores with the afresh unscheduled curtailment. As per reports, as against the peak demand of power to the tune of 1300 MW in Jammu region, just 700 MW is being provided at present by the Government while Kashmir region is getting 1000 MW against the demand of 1700 MW of electricity supply. So, against the total power demand of 3000 MW in J&K UT, the Government is providing hardly around 1700 MW of power supply only. Of late as per reports additional 203 MW of electricity supply have been allotted by the government of India, but will it solve the problem is a big paradox. Probably the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir needs a full statehood now along with a full-fledged democratic government so that the people could express their grievances to their elected representatives for redressal.
(The author is a retired Chartered Civil Engineer,
who loves his motherland, the Union Territory of
Jammu & Kashmir).
