With electricity continues to play hide and seek, there seems to be no end to the power crisis which have gripped the Jammu region this summer in general and during the on going monsoon in particular, adding to the woes of the common man to a great extent.
Though the increasing power crisis including long duration unscheduled curtailments, low voltage and fluctuation have made the life of people miserable throughout the Jammu region, the authorities at the helm of affairs are sleeping over the issue resulting into brewing resentment among the masses against the Department.
Despite the wide spread protests and demonstrations by people in various areas of city and its outskirts against the failure of the Power Development Department to maintain the proper supply of the electricity, the Department has failed to solve the problem in real sense.
The power scenario is so worst in the region that the people having the special lines have also to bear its brunt as the electricity supply remains off on these lines too for hours together.
The residents of Vikram Chowk and surrounding areas held a massive demonstration at Vikram Chowk in protest against the unscheduled power cuts in the area this evening. The irate people of these localities including, men, women and children, came to streets and protested against the PDD’s callousness towards the consumers.
Vikram Singh a resident of the area said that in addition to routine power cuts, the people have been facing an unscheduled power cut from 9 pm to 12 pm daily. Moreover there is also low voltage and power fluctuation in the area.
The situation is in no way better in Janipur, New Plots, Roop Nagar, Patoli, Subash Nagar and other parts of the city where the people are facing the unscheduled power cuts and low voltage problem for over a fortnight now. Ramesh Kumar a resident of Patoli said that the problem is common in every Summer and the Government over the years has not paid any attention to over come it.
He accused the Department of having no concrete policy in dealing with the problem which the people of Jammu have been facing over a decade now. The wires and transformers are out dated and old resulting into the leakage and power loss, he said, adding that the Department did not pay any sincere attention to overcome the problem.
The situation is also worst in the localities of Bantalab, Gurah, Muthi, Barnai, Udaywala, Bohri, Barnai, Darmal, Gurah Keran, Patoli Brahmana, Nagbani and Damana, said Suraj Parkash Padha,ex Sarpanch Muthi.
He said that despite an assurance given by Additional Deputy Commissioner Jammu Sheetal Nanda to the protesting people of the area last month that the power problem will be solved within days, it worsened further since then.
He said that the low voltage and fluctuation besides burning down of power transformers has also damaged the electric gadgets of the people. He said the problem is being faced mostly in the localities of Muthi and Barnai.
Padha alleged that being an important Department the PDD should have a separate Cabinet Minister to look into the problems of the masses properly. Since the Department lies with Chief Minister who is already pre-occupied with other affairs so he can’t pay proper attention to its functioning which is also one of the cause of the problem.
The people will be forced to come to streets again in case the authorities failed to solve the problem said, Mukesh Sharma a social activist from Muthi. He alleged that despite sending huge bills to consumers every month the PDD is unable to maintain the proper power supply.
He warned that the people will desist from paying power tariff in case the power supply is not improved immediately.
