SHAKEELA ANDRABI
SRINAGAR: Kashmir is on peak of chilly winters and after 12 days valley will enter harshest phase of winter season ‘Chilai Kallaan’ of 40 days. The minimum temperature is currently being recorded below freezing point. According to MeT, freezing temperature is likely to rise in coming days as weather will remain mostly dry for next one week. The world-famous tourist destination and Ski resort Gulmarg recorded minus 7 and minus 6 during last two nights while Srinagar was also recorded as the coolest place in Valley.
Despite facing numerous problems, now Srinagar residents will also face prolonged power cuts, as Kashmir Power Development Corporation Limited (KPDCL) has announced a power-cut schedule in various areas, according to which non-metered areas will face 6 hours to 7.5 hours of power cuts in a day, whereas in metered areas, the duration of power-cut will last from 4.5 hours to 6 hours a day. Last month, KPDCL had announced a power curtailment schedule of 1.5 hours in metered areas and 3 hours in non-metered areas but now the corporation has increased load shedding hours almost more than twice.
Chief Engineer, KPDCL, Aijaz Ahmad Dar said, “We have announced power curtailment schedule in areas falling under some feeders where demand has increased manifold. Our curtailment schedule will be around 4.5 hours to 6 hours in metered areas and 6 hours to 7.5 hours in non-metered areas depending upon load. Despite supplying over 15 per cent more energy in comparison to last year, we have been forced to announce power curtailment as misuse of electricity is still there. Our unrestricted demand is over 2,800 MW while we can supply close to 1750 MW. We have time and again reiterated that if people will use power judiciously, we won’t have to resort to power curtailment schedules.”
Meanwhile, people have expressed resentment against prolonged power-cuts. “During summer, Government officials keep feeding the media that this winter there will be no power-cuts, they will provide uninterrupted power supply but when winter comes, there are prolonged power-cuts. Our businesses suffer losses, students face inconvenience, patients face problems, everybody is affected by it but the Government is not bothered to address the issue,” said people related to business community
KPDCL officials, however, put the onus on consumers as misuse of electricity leads to power-cuts. They said that the power department in Kashmir division has increased its transmission capacity and for the first time peak load of 1750 Megawatt is supplied by Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation Limited (KPDCL). Though the unrestricted electricity demand in Kashmir has reached over 2800 MW, the increase in transmission capacity will play a role in minimizing load-shedding, they added.
“Our load agreement with consumers in Kashmir division is just for 860 MW of power, while we are supplying over 1700 MW which is double the agreement load. It signifies that there is huge power pilferage due to which corporation is incurring losses,” said a senior KPDCL official. “It is true that Power department has failed to control electricity theft as field staff of department itself encourages hooking system in fully metered areas and taking thousands from consumers as bribe,” said a resident.