Baramulla, Apr 18: The inhabitants of North Kashmir’s Baramulla district have asked the government to revise the power curtailment schedule enforced by the Power Development Department in both the metered and non-metered areas of the district. 
 “The government chalked out the power curtailment schedule after the onset of 40-day period of Chila-e-Kalan with a reason that power generation in the hydroelectric power projects were on decline following less discharge in the rivers. However, the valley has witnessed heavy snowfall and subsequent rainfall during the Chila-e-Kalan and afterwards. Now, the power generation should have improved considerably,” said Suhail Ahmad of Ganaie Hammam Baramulla.
 “With significant increase in the water level in Jhelum and the Lower Jhelum Hydel Project (LJHP) generating power to its maximum potential, the residents of Baramulla still have no respite from the unscheduled power cuts,” he said, adding the PDD should revise the curtailment schedule at an earliest.
 The residents of the area said that despite receiving electricity for few hours during the day and night in winter, they had paid the monthly tariff according to the agreement done with the PDD. “The PDD officials should take this into consideration and revise the power curtailment schedule immediately to provide relief to the people of the district who suffered immensely during the winter,” the residents added.
 According to the residents, the people were now avoiding the use of heat convectors and blowers following change in the temperature. “The chilling weather condition has gone and now the people don’t even use the heat blowers, which according to the PDD were prime source of load shedding,” the residents told Greater Kashmir.
 The inhabitants accused the PDD of being indifferent towards their grievances. “With the onset of winter, the senior functionaries of the department issue curtailment schedule forthwith. But when the weather improves and the discharge in rivers increases, they don’t make any attempts to change the harsh schedule immediately,” the inhabitants added.
 According to locals, the delay in the commissioning of the 220/132 KV, 320 MVA capacity Delina power grid station is also adding to the woes of the common people.
 The commissioning of the Grid Station is expected to streamline the overall power distribution system in the north Kashmir by minimizing the Transmission and Distribution losses and would provide some relief from the unscheduled power cuts.
 “The work on the Delina Grid Station and the Qazigund Grid Station which are of the same capacity were started simultaneously. Although Qazigund Grid station has been commissioned two months back, but Delina grid station is still incomplete. The authorities should expedite the pace of work so that the grid station is completed soon,” said a PDD official on the conditions of anonymity.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 18 Apr 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 18 Apr 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:00:00 IST