Face power shortage, poor infrastructure
SHAH KHALID
SRINAGAR, Mar 6: Villages of Pulwama district are facing immense unscheduled power curtailment with result the population of rural areas are up in arms.
“The government has initiated various centrally sponsored schemes for distribution and hassle free supply of power both for rural and urban areas but all the government claims fall flat in Pulwama villages,” said a local in Pinglena.
The residents of Pulwama and its villages are aghast against Power Development Department (PDD) for failing to replace and repair the electric poles and conductors from the last two years, causing great inconvenience to locals.
Residents of Najar Mohalla Pinglena told Kashmir Despatch that there are few low tension electrical poles in the area on which they have tied the conductors with tress, as well as with wooden logs.
However, irony is that the PDD officials have failed to install electric poles and wire conductors, despite the locals having submitted number of representations to concerned officers.
“We have brought our grievances into the notice of senior officers of PDD but still nothing has been done in this regard,” a student residing at Pinglena Pulwama, told Kashmir Despatch.
The residents of Pinglena have also alleged that during winters the area faces immense hardships, as few inches of snow damages the low tension lines which are tied to trees and other makeshift arrangements.
The low tension lines in some of the villages have been fixed just ten feet above the ground level, which poses a threat to the lives of people, many residents in Pinglena told Kashmir Despatch.
Meanwhile, when Kashmir Despatch visited some villages it found that there is poor power infrastructure in place. Residents of Naik Mohalla of Pinglena village said that the PDD is not providing its services to the people in a proper and required manner.
The residents of Kakapora Naman villages too expressed their anguish against the power department for what they called a step motherly treatment meted out to them.
Many residents alleged that the low tension and high tension power network is in shambles as some electric poles had been erected which pose a threat to people especially children.
“We have taken up the matter with concerned AEE but no action was taken to improve the power distribution system,” said Abid (name changed) a local resident. Hope authorities will look into our genuine demand, he added.
Meanwhile the government schemes launched under various flagship programmes was about bringing improvement in consumer satisfaction and power supply reliability but still the residents of these villages had not seen any concrete steps being taken by the government, the village elders.
When this reporter contacted Superintendent Engineer Power Development Department Pulwama, he said, “We have forwarded our proposal and detailed project report to government for maintenance and other overhaul of lines and as and when we get adequate funds we will go out for tendering and other process.” He further added that some schemes are presently operational now as they have worked on new distribution network in various villages in Pulwama.
