Power outages remain a top issue for the people of Jammu and Kashmir during both the winter and summer months. The hope that prevailing system and those steering it will ensure round-the-clock power supply remains elusive. Despite promises made by the government, unscheduled power cuts continue, and certain areas still experience load shedding for hours.
In recent days, several areas in Jammu Division experienced long hours of scheduled power cuts, signaling that uninterrupted power supply remains a distant dream in J&K. Residents of J&K with good memories will recall that previous governments assured 24X7 power supply for metered areas. Those residents of J&K having good memories must be remembering that the subsequent governments have assured that metered areas will be provided with 24X7 power supply. This promise was again repeated before the installation of electronic meters and now the same assurance has been coming by the helmsmen as J&K is fast installing the smart meters.
Sadly, the areas which have been covered by smart meters are no exception as these are also facing both scheduled and unscheduled power cuts akin to areas without smart meters. This condition has made it clear that the promise of uninterrupted power supply is merely a promise as the possibility of fulfillment of this is quite remote.
With power cuts existing like they used to exist decades ago, now the hopes are on solar energy, as the government has been promoting this non conventional energy resource on a wider scale. With conventional power resources remaining inadequate to provide round the clock power supply, the people should anticipate from solar powered electricity schemes under which the government is providing attractive subsidies to consumers to install solar cells on the rooftops of their houses and business establishments to generate electricity domestically and even sell the excessive power back to the government. This again is something which the government is claiming but the reality will only come to fore after the scheme will be accepted by a good number of people and the efficiency of these solar cells will be gauged practically. As people have no other option but to give nod to what is being offered by the government, they should go for this scheme also and hope for the best that after installing the solar panels, electrons will run in their gadgets and household conductors uninterruptedly, which is a long pending dream of people in J&K.
