Srinagar, Oct 13: At a time when Valleyites are facing hardships due to LPG crisis, new power curtailment schedule announced by Power Development Department (PDD) has further added to the woes of common people.
The PDD has come up with new curtailment schedule in which power cuts in metered as well as non-metered areas have been further increased.
According to the new order, power schedule in non-metered areas will be: Morning- twice a week OFF (5 AM to 8 AM); Day- average 43 per cent load OFF (6 AM to 6 PM); Evening- twice a week OFF (6 PM to 10 PM); Night- once a week OFF (10 PM to 5 AM).
Power schedule in metered areas will be: Morning- once a week OFF (5 Am to 8 AM); Day- once a week OFF (8 AM to 6 PM); Evening- once a week OFF (6 PM to 10 PM); Night- once a week OFF (10 PM to 5 AM).
However, if officials of PDD are to be believed, the power crisis will get worse as there will be power curtailments after the Durbar Move.
“In winter, we will be forced to further curtail power supply as due to cold weather people use heaters and other electric gadgets which put extra pressure on our supply feeders,” a PDD official told Greater Kashmir.
The move has triggered anger among people who are yet to come out of LPG shortage crisis. People accuse government of adding insult to their injuries by announcing the new power curtailment schedule.
Valley is reeling under acute shortage of cooking gas after Central government announced new LPG policy which limits supply of subsidized gas cylinders to six a year per consumer. While Congress-ruled States have taken a people-friendly decision of raising the cap on subsidized gas cylinders to nine, the J&K government has cited ‘lack of resources’ as a reason for not increasing the quota of subsidized cylinders.
“It has been always the tactic of State government to issue new power curtailment schedule when Durbar is scheduled to shift to Jammu,” Irshad Ahmad, a local resident said.
“It is very unfortunate that ministers and officials don’t take situation on ground into consideration while passing new orders. The new power schedule will increase the woes of people here,” he said.
The additional curtailment has become a worry for parents whose wards have to sit in examinations.
“How can our children study when there will hardly be any electricity during evening time?” Mehrajudin, a parent, questioned, adding, “Earlier I used handy-gas for lighting purpose during power curtailment time so that my children could study, but now it is difficult to get gas refill.”
Pertinently, State government has come under severe criticism from civil society groups for its failure to get back power projects from National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC).
Experts believe that if State gets back the control of NHPC power projects, its energy crisis will be over.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 13 Oct 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 13 Oct 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 14 Oct 2012 00:00:00 IST