Srinagar, Jan 14: After assisting the civil administration in snow clearance, the police is keeping an eye on the Power Development Department (PDD) in the regulation of electricity, a latest task for the men-in-Khaki, since January 6 when a few centimetres of snowfall plunged the summer Capital into crisis.
 This task, however, doesn’t pertain to use of guns or lathis. For that matter the cops don’t even need to take control over any power on/off triggers.
 All they need to do is make surprise inspection of Receiving Stations, which distribute the electricity to various locality transformers, from where it reaches the consumers.
 But unlike the assistance in snow clearance, which the police voluntarily did as a goodwill gesture on the instructions of Inspector General of Police, Shiv Murari Sahai; the cops are playing their PDD inspection role on the request of the civil administration.

THE INSPECTION
 The PDD officials confirmed that for the past around a week, the police has been regularly inspecting the Receiving Stations and some other offices of the department to keep a check on the staff attendance.
 “Most of the inspections take place during night hours,” he added.
 The data, which the police collects, the officials said, is forwarded to the District Development Commissioner (DDC) Srinagar, Baseer Ahmed Khan who is constantly perusing the details to check any discrepancy on the part of the PDD staffers.  

THE FEAR FACTOR
 While admitting that there could be leniency on the part of Receiving Station staff in performing their duties in the night hours, a senior PDD official said, the police move has been serving as a deterrent.
 “Earlier the employees could be doing some hanky-panky in their duties by making only one of them look after the station while others would enjoy being absent on shift basis…Now given the fear of inspection by police no staffer dares to be absent,” a senior PDD official told Greater Kashmir.
 Some other officials have however resented to the “police interference.”
 “Is the PDD so untrustworthy that police should keep an eye on us?” argued a Receiving Station staffer.

THE STAFF DUTY
 Officials said shortage of staff at Receiving Stations, at times, did affect power supplies.  “A receiving station needs to have at least two to three employees on duty all the times, only then the smooth power transmission is possible,” said a PDD official adding that presence of all of them was of “critical importance”.
 There are as many as 56 Receiving Station across the City, at places like Bagh-e-Ali Mardan Khan, Harwan, Rawal Pora, Wanganpora, Hazratbal and Khanyaar, which feed the locality transformers. 
 And to keep an eye on these, the Station House Officer(SHO)s of all the 25 Police Stations across the City have been assigned the job.
 The Senior Superintendent of Police Syed Ashiq Hussain Bukhari couldn’t be contacted for comment.
 Another senior official while confirming the development said his team was trying its best to give latest updates on attendance to the government.
 “My team inspects the (Receiving) Stations at-least four times a day,” a SHO said.

ADMIN SPEAKS
 Commenting over the development, the DDC Baseer Ahmed Khan said the inspection was aimed for the benefit of public so that they get power supply as per the schedule.
 “We had been receiving complaints from power consumers that Receiving Station staff would be absent from their duties as a result of which during any snag like transmission line snapping, people had to unnecessarily suffer for the want of electricity,” Khan explained adding that a Magistrate often accompanies the cops.
 “We are ensuring that such installations are properly managed as per roaster so that people don’t unnecessarily suffer… Essential services need a serious monitoring for effective delivery of services,” the DDC explained.

POLICE IN NEW AVATARS
 Pertinently for the past few months, the police has been assisting the government on the civic front as well.
 Last year in summers, the police reportedly pacified people in Shahr-e-Khaas when they were protesting against bad roads and even got their negotiations done with the concerned Roads and Building department officials.
 Recently a night after the snowfall, the cops picked up shovels for snow clearance. In the latest, they regularly inspect Receiving Stations.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 14 Jan 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 14 Jan 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 15 Jan 2012 00:00:00 IST