BUDGAM: People living in Ghazi Mollah-B in Charan Gam village in Beerwah Tehsil are without electricity for the last three months. The high-tension transmission cable, which they had bought and installed by their own efforts, has been damaged and there is no means of power supply to their village now.
Locals told Kashmir Reader that they had bought both the transformer and the transmission cable for their village from their own money. Mohammad Sidiq Magray, a resident of Ghazi Mollah-B, said that there are nearly 35 families comprising almost three-hundred people who are without electricity for the last 3 months.
“After the HT cable which provided the electricity supply to the main transformer in the Mohalla got damaged, we have not received any electricity supply,” he said.
“We had bought the transformer and the HT cable from our own money, which people collected in the Mohalla. We have already spent a huge amount of money on this transformer,” he added.
Magray said the Charan Gam village had received a transformer and HT cable and LT poles during the government’s Back to Village Programme. “But our Mohalla did not receive any benefit of this development work. We still lacked HT cable and LT poles in the mullah,” he said.
“The executive engineer of the PDD (Power Development Department) in Budgam has sent some cement poles to the mollah for an HT line. But there is also a need of LT poles, wires and other necessary equipment for the electricity to be restored in the Mohalla,” Magray said.
Abdul Hamid Magray, another resident of Ghazi Mollah-B, told Kashmir Reader that the transformer in their area is not functional after the HT cable was damaged. “We have an electricity agreement with the department but are still without electricity for the last more than three months,” he said.
“During the night we are using candles,” Magray said. “Our children are not able to study after dark. Now we are spending more money on the candles, on a daily basis.”
He added that one family had to buy a generator as they have a patient who is on oxygen support from a machine which runs on electricity.
The locals have requested the Chief Engineer of the PDD, Ajaz Ahmad Dar, the executive engineer of Power Development Department, Mohammad Hussain Shah, and Deputy Commissioner Budgam, Shahbaz Ahmad Mirza to look into the matter and solve their problem urgently, especially as the winter season has begun.
Mohammad Hussain Shah, Executive Engineer of PDD in Budgam, told Kashmir Reader that he has already sent HT poles to Ghazi Mollah-B. “We are going to put up the HT wires upon these poles. The electricity will be restored on an immediate basis,” he said.

ARIF RASHID