The residents of Deegam village in south Kashmir’s Shopian district Friday accused the Power Development Department (PDD) of resorting to unscheduled power cuts, causing immense hardships to them.
According to the residents, the village located across the Rambi Aara stream has been witnessing frequent power outages since winters.
They said the power schedule of winters is still in place in the village.
“The schedule has been reviewed in other parts of the district but here we receive electricity as per the old winter schedule,” said a local Mushtaq Ahmad.
Ahmad said that the power scenario got worse with the onset of the holy month of Ramadhan.
“Since the very first day of the Ramadhan, we see more power cuts in our locality. There are curtailments even during the Iftar and Sehri times,” he said.
Another resident said that they brought the issue to the notice of the concerned authorities umpteen times but to no avail.
“Our requests have not been paid heed to,” he said.
The residents said that the studies of their children also suffered due to frequent power disruptions.
“Our children are not able to study late in the evenings or attend online classes as they could hardly charge their phones and laptops,” they said.
The residents also demanded segregation of Deegam feeder from the Zawoora feeder.
Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE), Power Development Department (PDD), Shopian Muhammad Maqbool said that they had already sent a proposal for the segregation of the area. “Being a forest area, the lighting and thunderstorm during the inclement weather cause power disruptions in Zawoora feeder which affects Deegam area. The issue will be resolved once the feeders are segregated,” he said.