It is agonizing that like a convention of the past when the Power Development Department used to kindle hope among the people that areas having power meters will get 24X7 electricity or the places where the people will clear their pending electricity bills would not face power cuts but the situation remained the same. This time also the JPDCL has failed to fulfill its promise of delivering uninterrupted power supply to areas having 100 percent installation of smart meters.
Whether it is a village or a town or the main Jammu city, the power scenario is alike everywhere as no one in the region knows when the power will be snapped and when the same will start running back into conductors, leading to anger and agony among the people.
On one side, the people have been alleging that their electricity bills are touching sky after the installation of smart meters and on the other, the power scenario has become worse from being bad as power outage is a new norm in the region despite complete transformation of the power edifice including insulated cables replacing the bare wires, smart meters decorating electricity poles, billing becoming automatic and in some places prepaid system also coming into vogue.
It is really intriguing that there is no one in the power corridor to take the responsibility of this highly precarious situation leading to sultry days and dark nights for the population reeling under utter neglect of those sitting at helm of affairs of the JPDCL. It is really unfortunate that this situation has become a near norm because every year the people running the affairs of JPDCL come out with new alibis to justify the power outage problem.
Those have good memory must be remembering that last year also during the peak summer months the region faced unprecedented power shortage. Thereafter it was claimed that LG Manoj Sinha has taken the desired initiative and from now onwards there will be no such problem. But hardly some months have passed and the JPDCL personnel are again showing flat faces with their round the clock power promises going haywire. They become helpless and devoid of any solution to resolve the problem.
The persistent power shortages and unfulfilled promises by the JPDCL have left the residents of the region in a state of frustration and despair. It’s high time that the authorities take decisive action to address this ongoing crisis and ensure that such a situation does not repeat in the future.
