With the onset of winter, the frequent electricity outages have adversely affected the living conditions across the Valley.
The unscheduled electricity outage in both metered and unmetered areas in Kashmir is giving a tough time to the masses, particularly schoolchildren who are facing board examinations.
Consumers from both urban and rural areas have been complaining against the extended electricity outage during evening hours, which has become a routine in Kashmir.
“We are facing electricity outage for more than six hours every day for the past one month. It is very tough to survive without electricity in this bone-chilling weather,” said Abdul Rashid of Budshah Nagar in Srinagar, which is a metered area. “There is no power whenever we need it the most,” Rashid said.
The four-month-long winter has begun to set over Kashmir as the mercury is hovering around zero degree Celsius and nights are becoming colder with each passing day.
The minimum temperature in Srinagar on Saturday night was 0°C with the three-month dry spell still continuing.
A Power Development Department official is able to deliver 1200 MW power in the winter months against the demand of 1600 MW to provide round-the-clock electricity supply.
Even after hassle-free power supply is mentioned in the election manifestoes of the political parties, the successive governments have failed to augment the power infrastructure in the state. Due to lack of infrastructure, the state government could not import additional energy during winter to meet the demand, which increases due to use of heating appliances.
Officials said Kashmir records nearly 15 per cent annual increase in consumers, but the non-augmentation of infrastructure coupled with the increase in energy demand during winter results in overloading of the system, forcing the authorities to go for frequent power cuts.
They added that power thefts by consumers in both metered and unmetered areas, too, hit the power supply. The transmission and distribution losses in the state are very high i.e. around 55 per cent and are blamed on technical as well as commercial reasons, the officials said.
J&K has 20,000 MW of hydropower potential and only 3,263.46 MW has been exploited so far, consisting of 1 211.96 MW in state sector from 21 power projects, 2,009 MW in Central sector from seven projects and 42.5 MW in private sector from four projects.
Meanwhile, Chief Engineer Maintenance and Rural Electrification (Kashmir) Shahnaz Goni said the department could not take up power infrastructure development works in the current year due to disturbances in Kashmir.
“Power load increases every year, but we will manage it and things will stabilise within 10 days,” Goni told Kashmir Post. However, while appealing consumers to use power judiciously, she said they had to bear some curtailment.
Power pangs in Valley amid freezing temperatures
