Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Dec 7: Hundreds of people today protested in South Kashmir’s Pulwama town against Power Development Department (PDD) for failing to repair the damaged transformers on time and reinstalling the same in affected areas.
Residents of Druso came on the roads today and blocked main road connecting district Pulwama and Shopian of South Kashmir with Srinagar.
Protesters blocked the main road and disrupted the traffic for at least two hours. However, after CRPF’s aerial firing to pave the way for smooth movement of traffic, the protesters dispersed amid anti-Government slogans.
The residents including the students, shopkeepers and traders, who were protesting, alleged that the frequent, long and unscheduled power cuts subject them to immense inconvenience. “Once a transformer is damaged it takes PDD officials weeks together to repair it and install the transformer at its place”, they said.
Executive Engineer, PDD Pulwama, Mohammad Shafi said it takes more than three weeks of time to repair a damaged transformer and people expects new transformer within few days which is not possible.
Meanwhile, business community said it has suffered losses due to frequent transformer damages and delay in repairing damaged transformers.
Protesters also alleged that Small Scale Industrial Unit (SSIU) has stopped repairing transformers due to nonpayment of dues. “There are 34 transformers presently damaged in PDD Division, Pulwama and department is repairing them as per schedule,” they said.
However, Chief Engineer Pulwama, Mirza Ayoub said Pulwama district has 231 MV A capacity in all the 21 receiving stations, but the consumers consume some 255 MV A, which becomes the reason for frequent load shedding in the district.
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