SRINAGAR: On the Onset of Chila-i-Kalan (Coldest 40 Days) the minimum temperature in Srinagar has dipped to minus 5.6 degrees, while Gulmarg is at minus 11 degrees, but it is not the chila-i-kalan that’s making the winter really unbearable for ordinary people, it is the long unscheduled power cuts.
From North to south and east to west of valley in all the three Parliament segments of Kashmir including Central, South and North Kashmir except the VIP areas e.g Gupkar etc. , people are facing Unscheduled, frequent 12 to 14 hour power cuts every day
“Jammu and Kashmir has a potential to generate over 20,000 MW of hydro power but Kashmir is facing perennial power crisis – while the power department is blaming people for the crisis, it’s the common man who is suffering in bone chilling cold.” said a resident from Rajbagh Area of Srinagar
“There is no respite for the city residents from both scheduled and unscheduled power cuts. Not only during the day, but the power remains off even during the night, thus giving sleepless nights to the people.The power failures have been making matters worse for us. The power continues to play hide and seek and sometimes we didn’t receive supply for days together, though we pay the fatty bills to the department on monthly basis and yet they fail to supply us electricity on schedule basis”. said a resident of Bandipora.
Pertinently, Netizens from kashmir too went to social media, which is reeling under a major power crisis, to vent their anger out on PDP BJP Government .
“There are hell lot of frequent electricity cuts over the past one month.For every two hours of electricity supply, the Power Development Department (PDD) resorts to one hour of curtailment. #Heaven Turning into #Zamhareer (Coldest Hell) ” wrote a netizen
“Dear Mufti Sahib ( @CMOJK ) , since u can’t make sure the continuity of power supply in #Kashmir, just make learning #Braille compulsory” wrote another Netizen
In Kashmir, the demand for power goes up during the winter. The power department, which cannot cope up with the demand, usually blames power theft and illegally tapping electric lines for the blackouts.
“Despite repeated attempts Chief Engineer PDD Bashir Ahmad Khan could not be contacted.”