Malu Kerni
With the rising mercury 44 degree Celsius making life tougher, the Power Development Department (PDD) has also started to add to the miseries of the common people by resorting to unscheduled power curtailments, low voltage and night outages.
The situation in the outskirts and remote areas is annoying as the unscheduled power cuts and night outrages have made the 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.
The residents are simmering under the gradually increasing temperature; power woes are here to worsen the season’s torridness for them. People living in and around the city are experiencing erratic outages for durations of more than two hours.
The education department has ordered closure of schools to prevent children from heat but it is sad that PDD department has shown no concern in this connection and has even imposed more unscheduled power cuts. People are helpless and have to bear this curtailment.
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 department. The present situation in Jammu regarding the electricity availability is unpromising despite the entire city has been covered under the e-metering.
Ashu Sharma, a housewife and a resident of Greater Kailash said, “Common people are paying a huge price for the frequent electricity cuts. 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. The low voltage and unscheduled power cuts have make life miserable.”
Another homemaker, Bimla Langeh, resident of Channi Himmat shared, “We are not stepping out of our homes after 11 o’clock to avoid the scorching sun. But life indoor has turned out to be even more punishing. Look at the way they go for power cuts every now and then. We can’t afford generators and inverters are also not working. The house turns into an oven in just five minutes without the fan/AC working. The worst sufferers are the children who feel restless and irritates during these power cuts.”
Deepti Anirudh Sharma, 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. It becomes more difficult to manage things in such poor conditions. Food gets spoiled, refrigerators are not working, children cannot play; it’s a mess all over due to these unscheduled power cuts.”
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.
