As the ongoing power crisis in Kashmir is worst in the past decade, officials of Power Development Department say that it is the unequal distribution of power supply between the two regions the has worsened the things for the people across Kashmir Valley. “People of Kashmir pay more power tariff and yet more power is distributed to Jammu region. Eeven though the available power is to be equitably distributed in both Jammu and Kashmir regions of the state, Valley alone has been facing the power crisis this time and it is only because of unequal power distribution,” a PDD official told CNS on condition of anonymity.Another PDD official who wished not to be named informed that, “the thumb rule had been that the power distribution was 55:45 for Kashmir (including Ladakh) and Jammu provinces respectively because Kashmiri consumers have been comparatively paying more. But for now major part of energy is given to Jammu.”
Contradicting the remarks of his own officials Chief Engineer Power Development Department while blaming people for the mess said that in a bid to meet the demands, the state government has been spending the highest ever Rs 5,000 crores for annual power procurement. “Earlier State Government used to earmark only Rs 36,00 crores for annual power procurement. The Government has not been banking .on the arbitrary power supply from the Northern Grid but procuring power supply in real terms,” Chief Engineer PDD Bashir Ahmed Khan told CNS and added that the state government has opt for over-drawal of electricity from the Northern Grid.Khan said that despite maintain a balance between supply and demand, the power scenario during the winters get worsened across Kashmir as consumers do not follow the guidelines of the Power Department. “There is no need to raise hue and cry over unscheduled power cuts.
People are blaming PDD for their fault. Let people reveal their actual requirements, PDD will supply uninterrupted power to them.” Khan blamed people for the curtailments and unscheduled power cuts. “Over two lakh units of energy is being consumed per day and yet the people don’t tell us about their actual requirements. Let people come forward, make us aware about their actual requirements and see how things will look up. It is easy to blame the Department for everything but at least people should realize that they use more electricity than required,” Khan said.He said that it is unfortunate that people don’t know anything about the mechanism of electricity. “People want uninterrupted power supply, but at the same time they don’t stop indulging in illegal acts. They use illegal means and misuse electricity. Against the registered demand of 1000 MW, we supply 1200 MW. These additional 200 MW creates the whole problem, if this gets fixed, things would improve.” (CNS)