Subash Nagar residents punished with 6-hour power cuts to compensate ‘defaulters’ in Kashmiri migrant quarters

Six hours of darkness for paying power bills; Zero action against defaulters

STATE TIMES NEWS

JAMMU: Residents of Subash Nagar, Top Sherkhania, Vikas Nagar and adjoining localities are facing prolonged power curtailment of up to six hours daily, double the officially prescribed duration, triggering strong resentment among regular electricity bill payers.
Power supply to these areas is routed through four feeders. While the official curtailment schedule mandates a three-hour cut on Feeders 1, 2 and 3, consumers linked to Feeder No. 2 consumers, mostly the local residents of Jammu are subjected to nearly six hours of power outage every day.
The issue surfaced after local resident Dr Rohit Gupta took up the matter with officials of the Power Development Department (PDD).
According Dr Gupta, senior officials informed that the additional curtailment was being imposed to offset revenue losses caused by non-payment of electricity dues in government quarters allotted to Kashmiri migrants, which also draw power from Feeder No. 2.
Describing the long power cuts as unjust and arbitrary, Dr Gupta said law-abiding consumers were being penalised for the department’s failure to recover dues from defaulters. There is no justification for imposing extended power cuts on residents who clear their bills regularly, he said. Terming the decision “collective punishment,” Dr Gupta questioned the logic of penalising entire residential localities instead of recovering dues from defaulters. “Why should residents of Subash Nagar suffer six hours of darkness when we pay our bills on time? Residents alleged that instead of initiating recovery proceedings or installing separate meters for government-allotted quarters, the department had opted for blanket curtailment, resulting in hardship for paying consumers. They termed the move gross mismanagement and an abdication of administrative responsibility. Anger is mounting in the affected areas, with locals accusing the PDD of ignoring the interests of Jammu’s paying public. They warned that failure to restore power curtailment to the official three-hour limit would force residents to take to the streets in protest.
Residents have demanded immediate segregation of feeders supplying government quarters, strict recovery of pending electricity dues from defaulters and an end to what they termed discriminatory power cuts. This is impacting the studies of students, who are in a state of despair as the examinations are round the corner. With summer approaching and temperatures rising, residents said prolonged outages could severely affect elderly people, children and working families, escalating public discontent further.