Unit holders, small-time industries affected by outages

Srinagar: Winter is yet to arrive and the power supply in Kashmir has already gone from bad to worse, even in the metered areas – the people complain, particularly the ones who have their businesses bearing the brunt.
Complaints of erratic power supply are being received from across the valley, including the summer capital Srinagar. People say that the power scenario is akin to mid-winters when bad weather and receding water levels adversely affect the power supply.
“The power schedule is not being followed in either the metered or the unmetered areas. There are short durations of power supply amid hours of load shedding,” a resident of the Boulevard area in Srinagar told Kashmir Reader, “And the same is the scenario in other areas of the city,”
The rest of Kashmir is no better. People from the south and north Kashmir districts have the same sorry stories about the power supply to tell. “We have never seen the power supply in such pathetic condition. And the excuses given by the officials are pathetic and hilarious at the same time,” said a resident of the Bijbehara area in Anantnag district.
The residents told Kashmir Reader that a couple of hours of supply was being curtailed in the name of grid shutdown, and another hour in the name of rotation. “And then after waiting three long hours, what we get in the name of power supply is a mere fifteen minutes. The power supply has gone to the dogs,” the residents complain.
Pulwama, Kulgam, Shopian, Baramulla, Budgam – people from every district are complaining of the same. “And the situation is getting worse every passing day,” the people said.
The worst affected are the unit holders and small-time industrialists of Kashmir, who are seeing their crucial work hours going down the drain. “We are supposed to get an uninterrupted power supply, but we are facing a severe brunt in the wake of a pathetic power scenario. We are paying our workers in full, while they are able to work for not more than half a day,” an industrial unit holder in Anantnag district told Kashmir Reader.
Others, this reporter talked to, had similar woes saying that their manufacturing has been severely dented while they are paying the labourers in full. Offices, private or government owned, are also suffering.
“The moment you enter a government office, they have the power excuse ready for you and the work remains pending for another day,” sources in the administration told Kashmir Reader.
Kashmir Reader tried talking to the Chief Engineer of the Power Development Corporation Limited, Javed Yousuf, who did not attend repeated phone calls made to his mobile number.
He had, however, recently told media men that a new power schedule might be issued after November 10. The JKPDCL has also maintained that there might be longer power cuts if people do not use electricity judiciously.

  Kashmir 370

Suhail A Shah