For the first time, probably, the Jammu Kashmir Administration has ordered an enquiry by a commissioner level officer to find out the reasons for erratic power cuts and also to fix the responsibility for such unscheduled and sudden blackouts. Taking the issue seriously, the government has ordered the probe by the Principal Secretary, Home department Mr Shaleen Kabra is asked to submit his report within a week's time.
Keeping its line with the past, this year too Jammu region bore the brunt of the hot, humid, choking and dark days when the erratic and failed power supply put the people to undergo a nightmare.
The unscheduled and long duration power cuts and fluctuations in the Jammu region during prevailing blistering heatwave have pushed the people into a hell-like situation when even to pass a few hours becomes nightmarish. Even the fully metered areas are not spared power outages varying from 3 to 7 hours are enforced. The reasons for this shortfall are well known and the problem has been discussed over and over again. But we are no were near any solution to this problem. No matter how much we cry, how much we protest on the streets, write or speak about the problem in the media, there are no chances of the people of this place getting an undisturbed power supply.
After a hue and cry, the chief secretary, Arun K Mehta called a meeting and expressed his displeasure on the incidents of outages, unreasonable and unexplainable power transmission losses (TL) and instructed the department to manage the big TL gap and fix the accountability. Instead of admitting the failures on their part, the officials of PDD have tried to justify the power cuts huge increase in the power consumption load which they have termed over 29 per cent.
Though known to all and one why such power curtailments occur yet it would be too early to comment over the reasons as it would be better to leave the matter to the enquiry officer. The the department should find out the solution and meet the huge shortfall of power energy by improving the generation, checking effectively the power theft and proper regulation of distribution instead of passing the buck to increase in consumption.
Every day, the electricity suddenly goes off for hours. There is no timing. It goes off anytime. The matter is serious for the government it should mind that cumulatively costs of disruption in electricity are too high to be ignored. These power cuts turn everything dark and breathless. The outage must stop forthwith.
If the governments keep that in mind, they would keep it at the top of the priority list and follow it till the problem is really solved. The frequent power cuts affect our older people in the families feel breathlessness. Power cuts may also prove fatal for Covid-19 patients who are on oxygen support at their homes and also expressed his concern for inadequate power supply for the patients (Covid19) who are on power-driven oxygen support otherwise our hospitals have to deal with the burden.
The long hours of darkness adversely impact the students who could utilise the lockdown and restrictions better if there was an uninterrupted power supply. This alone would amount to a huge loss at a collective level. Now take the case of the economy. The industrial sector is totally dependent on the power supply. One of the reasons why the industrial sector couldn't pick up in the J&K the way it could have. The production lines fail because there is no adequate supply of electricity.
It is hoped that the formal enquiry by a senior officer would bring the cat out of the bag and the PDD's lapses will be clearly identified for the power crisis particularly in such hot and humid weather in Jammu.
