Since the past two months, the residents of Padder tehsil have been living under darkness as heavy snowfall and rain damaged the power supply lines and poles.
While talking to Greater Kashmir, Kartar Singh, a resident, lamented, “The entire tehsil continues to reel under darkness since the past two months as the concerned department has failed to restore the supply, which developed some technical snag during inclement weather.”
He added, “We have been making repeated pleas to the officials to repair the supply in order to mitigate our sufferings, but nothing has been done.”
The locals, while talking about the hardships they face, said, “As soon as the sun sets, we are forced to use traditional oil lamps to keep our houses illuminated. Our children are suffering badly as they are not able to study without electricity. We are even unable to charge our mobile phones.”
On being contacted, executive engineer power development department, Kishtwar, Roshan Lal, said, “The 11 KV line is clear from our end. Only the 33 KV line, which comes under the jurisdiction of power development department Doda is under process.”
He assured that as soon as the 33 KV line would be restored, the 11 KV line would start supplying power.
Meanwhile, while confirming from the executive engineer, Doda, Jarnail Singh, said, “The temporary restoration was done yesterday, Saturday. We have some technical faults, which would be cleared on war footing.”