Consumers decry unscheduled power cuts in Srinagar areas

Srinagar, Dec 13: Unscheduled power cuts are taking a toll on residents in various areas of the summer capital.

The consumers in the areas where smart meters have been installed decried unscheduled power cuts.

Asif Ahmad, a resident of Srinagar, said that for the past many months, they have been facing unscheduled power cuts in their areas.

“Despite installation of smart meters, unscheduled power cuts are causing inconvenience to us,” Ahmad said.

The residents of Downtown Srinagar said that they have been equally suffering due to power cuts for the past few months now. They said they cannot operate any electrical gadgets for their ease amid power cuts.

“We have been facing major power cuts for the past few weeks. This has affected our routine work. All of our gadgets work on electricity, and power outages hamper our lives,” said Shabir Ahmad, a Downtown resident.

Meanwhile Greater Kashmir also received many complaints from inhabitants of various Hazratbal areas like Habak, Batapora , Burzahama, Tailbal, and adjoining areas about the unscheduled power cuts. Residents said that the local substation has failed to provide electricity as per the schedule.

“We have more power cuts than our curtailment schedule. We receive power for half an hour during the schedule. This has really made our lives miserable, especially for patients, elderly and children,” said a resident of Burzahama.

The residents appealed to the concerned authorities to ensure power supply as per scheduled curtailment in the area falling under the Burzahama receiving station.

Chief Engineer, KPDCL, Javaid Yousuf Dar, said that the department is going to purchase more electricity, and once that happens, there will be a respite from power cuts.

“The issue is throughout the Valley and we hope in the coming days, once there will be purchase of more power, the issue will be addressed. Until that happens, there will be this issue, and we hope to address it as soon as possible,” Dar said.

To mention, recently the government gave approval to purchase an additional 500 MW of electricity, which the government said will bring the valley out of the present power crisis.