Suhail Bhat
Srinagar, Jan 20: Over fifteen days after the Kashmir received heavy snowfall, South Kashmir continued to face the worst power crisis as Power Development Department was yet to fix a transmission tower that was damaged due to landslide at Sarmoli area of Jammu division.
A tower of 220-KV Kishnapur-Mirbazar transmission line suffered damage due to landslides triggered by rains near Sarmoli area in Jammu Division, causing a shortage of around 40- Megawatts in South Kashmir and amplified the load shedding.
The department, however, said that the transmission line has been temporarily restored and the affected areas would start receiving the power supply as per the earlier schedule from today. “The tower has not been restored yet, but we have been able to connect the transmission line,” the department said.
This is a temporary arrangement but this will help us in providing full electricity to the affected areas of South Kashmir,” Chief Engineer, Aijaz Ahmad Dar said. After the snowfall the restoration was quick and people even hailed the PDD for their vigorous efforts, but the 220KV Mirbazar line turned out to be a tough nut to crack for the department which affected the power supply of both metered and non-metered areas in South Kashmir.
The problem was felt across the South Kashmir with Anantnag and Kulgam districts being worst affected. “We are living in a metered area and are not receiving proper electricity despite paying fat electricity bills. We do not even get an hour of uninterrupted power supply,” Burhan Ahmad, a resident of Anantnag said.
The residents rue that the PDD is not meeting their expectations. “We are not even getting electricity as per the schedule. Out of the scheduled 6- hours supply we are getting electricity for 2-3 hours,” Abdul Majeed, another resident from a Bijbihara said. Similar complaints were received from Pulwama and Shopian district as well, where metered and non-metered areas were suffering alike. “Lack of electricity compounds our problems in this winter as we have to use ice-cold water. We do not get enough electricity. The authorities must look into it,” Abdul Bari, a resident of Shopian said.
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