POWER WOES | Despite 3 power projects, Ganderbal facing worst power scenario

Ganderbal: People in Ganderbal district are up in arms against the Power Development Department (PDD) for failing to provide them uninterrupted power supply.

Locals said that despite having three power projects, Ganderbal was seeing the worst power scenario.

They said that the power woes had become a major cause of concern for them, especially with the onset of the winter.

People in Ganderbal, Lar, Wayil, Kangan, Gund, and other areas said that the unscheduled power cuts had become severe, giving a tough time to people, especially during the evening hours.

Ganderbal district boasts three power projects including the Ganderbal Hydel Power Project which has a capacity of 15 MW, USHP-1st Sumbal of 22 MW, and USHP-2nd Kangan of 105 MW, a combined capacity of generating 142 MWs, however, presently these projects only generate 19.5 MWs.

Although there is a reduction in the water level, locals blame the authorities for not paying heed to maintain the power project like system upgradation, project digitalisation, manpower, and other facilities besides hi-tech supervision to explore their full potential.

Executive Engineer Generation Division, Ganderbal, Muneer Ahmed told Greater Kashmir that the dip in generation was mostly due to the low water discharge these days.

“We have 3 power projects including old Ganderbal which nowadays generates 3 MW instead of 15 MW, USHP-1 Sumbal generates 6.5 MW instead of 22 MW as one of its units is being overhauled, and USHP-2nd Kangan is generating 10 MW instead of 105 MW due to the low water discharge and two of its units are under maintenance,” he said.

Ahmad said that of the total 320 cubic liters about 200 cubic liters are used by PHE while only 102 cubic litres are being received for power generation. 

Meanwhile, locals said that the power supply in the district was worst.

“It is shocking that instead of ensuring regular power supply, the Power Development Department is resorting to unscheduled power cuts,” said Showket Ahmad of Wayil town.

The residents of various areas of Ganderbal district said that they were facing repeated power cuts during morning and evening hours.

“Every day we face the problem of unscheduled power cuts only to find ourselves in complete darkness. The electricity is playing hide and seek,” said a resident of Gund.

People complained that the situation was alike in both metered and non-metered areas.

Locals said that the erratic power supply was going from bad to worse. “We fail to understand why the authorities are not sticking to any schedule,” they said.

People complain that in complete disregard of the already announced load-shedding programme for Kashmir, PDD had, surprisingly, been resorting to extended unscheduled power cuts without intimating the hapless consumers.

People also complained that unscheduled curtailments were hampering the studies of their wards.

“The power supply is being curtailed in contravention of the existing schedule. The studies of our wards are being affected due to this phenomenon. We appeal to the concerned authorities to look into the matter,” the residents said.

Amid the complaints of erratic power supply in Ganderbal district over the past month, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Ganderbal Shyambir Singh chaired a meeting of officers to review the power supply scenario in the district.