Residents of more Gurez villages demand grid connectivity

Bandipora, Nov 28: With parts of Gurez in north Kashmir's Bandipora getting connected with the grid station for the first time, more residents of more villages there are demanding regular power supply.
The demand is also being made by the villagers of Bagtore in Kanzalwan, which falls in the lower zone category and where the receiving station is still being constructed. It is expected to be completed by 2024.

The villagers are demanding power supply via step down transformers.
Mukhtiyar Ahmad Lone, the BDC of Bagtore and Kanzalwan region in the valley told Greater Kashmir that they were happy that the Dawar area in Gurez has got connected to the grid "with 24-hour power supply."

He said the people of the block demand that until the receiving station in the area is completed, "33x11Kv step down transformers be installed here so that they also get regular power supply."
The villagers who seconded Lone said their pleas are for the Lieutenant Governor, Deputy Commissioner, and the KPDCL chief so that a "new dawn of development is witnessed in the region, which otherwise receives fixed hours of power generated from diesel generators.

Pertinent to mention here, the KPDCL was able to connect Gurez Valley with the grid station in a "historic milestone" via a 69-kilometer transmission line that passes over Razdan Pass at an elevation of nearly 12,000 feet.

The transmission line is carried over 1,850, 11-feet double electric poles.

The transmission line comes from 50 Megawatt (MVA) 132/33 kilowatts (KV) in Putushai village in Bandipora and connects receiving station in Dawar in Gurez.

The corporation's chief engineer Javid Yousf Dar said, "The 6.3 MVA, 33/11kV Receiving Station and 11kV network of Dawar, Gurez comprising of 14 DTs with total capacity of 1700 KVA has been energised."

He added, "Around 1500 consumers consisting mostly of households besides some shops and government offices, including PHC Dawar, have benefitted."

The officials who talked to Greater Kashmir said that under the first phase, nine villages which include Badwan, Wampora, Khandyal, Fakirpora, Dawar, Mastan, Markoot, Achoora, and Chorwan will get electricity.
For the second phase, Kanzalwan and Bagtore regions are likely to get electricity as a grid station is being constructed there. Moreover, work on the 30-kilometer transmission line to illuminate Tulail Valley
in Gurez will also be taken up.

Moreover, to step up the power supply, a DAM2 receiving station is also being constructed, which will get electricity from a 2MV powerhouse to be constructed by NHPC.

"It will go into the system and step up the electricity supply for the region," AEE, KPDCL, Abdul Rashid posted in the region said.
Even though Rashid admitted that the winters in the region "pose a challenge" due to heavy snowfall, which will make faulty locations inaccessible for repairs, he said the department has laid the cables underground at critical locations.

These include two patches, 500 meters each, at Dahi Nallah and one spot, which is 200 meters long, ahead of Zadkhushi Nallah. The total underground length of the transmission line is two kilometers, Rashid said.