A windstorm that hit the Jammu region on Sunday evening has exposed the preparedness of the administration to deal with such exigencies as several areas remained without power and drinking water amid hot and humid weather conditions today.
Many parts of the city and its outskirts remained parched as the functioning of lifting stations and pumps of the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department was affected due to erratic power supply.
A senior official of the Power Development Department (PDD) claimed that the high-velocity windstorm that hit the region last evening caused damage to electricity infrastructure. “The 33-KV and 11-KV high tension (HT) power lines suffered maximum damage as flying debris and uprooting of trees snapped supply lines in different parts. There are areas where the department is still not been able to restore power supply till late this evening,” the official said.
Ashwani Gupta, Chief Engineer, M&RE Wing, PDD, Jammu, said the electricity infrastructure had suffered loss due to the storm and they had made a list of number of damaged transformers and power lines.
“We are yet to assess the financial loss suffered by the department. We have been able to restore nearly 80 per cent power supply while our teams are on job to restore electricity supply in the remaining 20 per cent areas,” the Chief Engineer said.
Furious Narinder Singh Jamwal, former Mayor of the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC), said, “There is a big nexus between big companies and officers of the power department that resulted in the present situation due to which common man is suffering. The Central government has pumped in crores of rupees under the Re-structured Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme (R-APDRP) to improve power infrastructure but nothing has changed on the ground. The power supply goes off every time when rain or windstorm lash the area. There are rotational power cuts every day. It has become a ‘tamasha’ now and this is happening because they used substandard material. There should be a thorough inquiry into it to punish the guilty officers.”
An officer of the PHE Department said the water supply was affected today because of erratic power supply at their lifting stations, particularly Sitlee filtration plant. “We could not lift water from the Tawi due to disruption in power supply. We will be making all-out efforts to ensure water supply is restored to the affected areas during the next 24 hours,” said the officer.
School roof blown away in Udhampur
Thunderstorm blew away the roof of a school building at Kasuri village, about 90 km from Udhampur, last night.
Heavy rainfall, followed by strong windstorm, wreaked havoc on Kasuri Village in Udhampur and damaged the building of a high school. The tin roof was blown away by the heavy wind. Today the students sat in the open for studies.
Similar incidents were also reported from various part of the district where kaccha houses collapsed and tin roofs of some houses were blown away. Locals demanded immediate relief to the affected families who have lost their houses.
Meanwhile, some roads also got blocked due to uprooting of eucalyptus trees, which created inconveniences to commuters. Electricity supply remained snapped throughout the night and even today till afternoon.
“As I received information about the incident I went to the school and shifted all the important documents to the kitchen in the school. Higher authorities have been intimated for necessary action,” said Pardeep Gupta.
