Kupwara, Nov 19: The people of Handwara have shown strong resentment against authorities for not augmenting the capacity of Chotipora power station resulting in usual power cuts and irregular power supply to the consumers.
The residents said that last year during ‘My Town My Pride’ at Town Hall Handwara the then Advisor to Lieutenant Governor (LG) Baseer Ahmad Khan had promised to upgrade Chotipora power station within few months but after the passage of over one year, the people were continuously suffering as the power station has not been upgraded yet.
A senior official at Power Development Department (PDD) Handwara Division told Greater Kashmir that the capacity of Chotipora receiving station does not match up the demand that is why people face power outage.
“At present this power station has 15 Mega Watt Volt Ampere (MVA) capacity which does not fulfill the need of people and during the time of overloading we are forced to resort to power cuts,” he added.
He said that Chotipora power receiving station besides District Hospital Handwara renders electricity to thousands of households of Handwara A and B, Vadhpora, Maratgam and Kultoora. He said that it needs to be upgraded with one more 10 Mega Watt Volt Ampere transformer (MVA) so that people can have regular power supply.
HandwaraMuncipal Committee Chairman MasroorBanday, said that he was unable to figure that why the present dispensation was dilly dallying in augmenting the capacity of this power station. He said that the people especially from Main Town Handwara were the worst hit and the authorities were watching the miseries of people as mute spectators.
Meanwhile Executive Engineer Power Development Department (PDD) Handwara Division Mohammad Maqbool Lone while acknowledging the hardships being faced by people during these days told Greater Kashmir that the 15 MVA transformer stands already approved for Chotipora receiving station and efforts were on to install it at the earliest so the grievances of people are redressed soon.