Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 12: Questioning the tall claims of Govt about huge potential of power and water resources within J&K, JKPCC vice president and former minister Raman Bhalla today said where are those dream sellers now when people in Jammu and Kashmir are facing worst ever water and power crisis.
He alleged that unscheduled power cuts and water crisis in different parts of Jammu division have left people high and dry but government is not even able to come out with exact picture of what exactly is happening behind the scene and what is the current status of available electricity and water. This was observed by former Minister after visiting various rural areas of Gandhi Nagar constituency as a part of his campaign to listen to the grievances of aggrieved people of constituency in this hour of crisis.
“The government had been making tall claims of tapping 20,000 megawatt of hydroelectric power but situation is so grim that even the already installed generation capacity has dipped drastically making J&K depend upon central purchases. One wonders where have all those power stations and water supply schemes gone which were inaugurated with much fanfare by the army of ministers during past seven years,” Bhalla said adding, “poor infrastructure and lack of interest is making crave for even day to day essentials.”
Bhalla claimed that residents of most rural areas were facing acute shortage of water and power crisis as the government had failed to provide essential services to them. He alleged that government had again turned out to be a complete failure on all fronts. “Most parts of rural belt are facing acute water and power crisis, but the government has not taken any effective steps to solve the problem,” he said.
He further pointed out that the unprecedented power and water crisis in these areas highlights the apathy of the LG Administration which had failed to address the issues of the people. “Despite persistent appeals to the government to ensure the supply of basic amenities, no action has been taken. People are suffering, but there is no consolation from the government,” he said.
Bhalla claimed that PDD has been giving all plausible reasons of ‘demand much more than power supply, over loading of 132/33 kv Grid Stations, overloading of 33/11 kv stations, 33kv and 11kv feeders, over loading of distribution transformers, unwarranted increase in power load due to rampant use of Air Conditioners/ heating appliances including large scale theft and consequent increase in T&D losses.