Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 28: There is no end to people’s resentment against the power crisis in J&K which had made their living miserable.
Traders of different markets under the banner of Traders Federation Ware House Nehru Market (TFW NM) today held a protest demonstration against the 15 to 18 hours power cut in the Jammu region, particularly in the Ware House Nehru Market. The protest was led by Deepak Gupta, president TFWHNM.
They came down heavily on the administration for the worst power crisis and warned the Government to take immediate steps to improve the situation before it further worsens. Deepak Gupta said that this kind of situation is unprecedented and never witnessed in the past. It is admitted fact that power consumption is less in Jammu region while it provides more revenue to the governments. At present Jammu region is facing scorching heat and is worst affected due to power shortfall. The Government has totally failed to improve the situation since it is just the beginning of the hot Summer in Jammu and power crisis has been the worst. Click here to watch video
Seeking exemption of e-way bill and e-invoice to the traders till the electricity system is smooth, Deepak Gupta said that today the business is completely online. “We have to generate e-way bills online and generate e-invoice, but there is no electricity throughout the day due to which shopkeepers are not able to work”, he added.
J&K High Court Bar Association, Jammu held a meeting under the chairmanship of M.K. Bhardwaj, president,of the Association, regarding the unscheduled electricity curtailment in Jammu province. The meeting was attended by all the office bearers of JKHCBAJ namely, M.P.Singh Palli vice president, Surjeet Singh Andotra general secretary, Aditya Sharma joint secretary, Amandeep Singh Treasurer and many other learned members of the Association also participated in it.
M.K. Bhardwaj and resident JKHCBAJ has strongly condemned the U.T. Government for its inaction, which he alleged has failed even in providing the basic essential services to the people of Jammu province due to which the general public is suffering very badly in this hot Summer.
Bhardwaj further urged upon the Government to concentrate in providing the uninterrupted power supply in Jammu province rather than focusing only on installation of smart meters . He said that the people of Jammu are regularly paying their monthly rent and without their fault the public should not be made to suffer any more.
Surging electricity demand in Jammu and Kashmir shall be overcome if we get electricity share from Punjab Government as per Agreement of 2018 said former Minster and senior BJP leader Ch Sukhnandan here, today.
“Why we are not getting our 20 percent electricity share from ShahPur Kandi/Thein Dam in Punjab, Sukhnandan asked?
Sukhnandan said that an MoU was signed in between the J&K and Punjab in 2018, but still we are not able to get the benefits of electricity and asked that the responsibility should be fixed and the electricity be acquired to provide relief to the residents of Jammu & Kashmir.
“Consistent electricity blackout is being presently faced by the common public all over Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir which has taken shape of a burning issue’. In spite of having huge potential of electricity generation in the UT, the people of Jammu and Kashmir especially Jammu region are suffering from huge unscheduled power cuts”, said Ch. Sukhnandan Kumar.
The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) Women’s Wing today said the power crisis in Jammu and Kashmir is deepening with each passing day, saying people are seeing no relief from unscheduled outages.
This was said by the party’s Women’s Wing functionaries in a protest against the worst ever and pervasive power crisis in Kashmir.
Led by the party’s Women’s Wing president Shameema Firdous, the protesting Women’s Wing functionaries raised placards demanding relief from the unscheduled power cuts and unsteady water supply. Among others Party’s Provincial Wing president, Sabiya Qadri, district president Women’s Wing Baramulla, Neelofar Masood were also present in the protest march.
“Our people are hankering for power, particularly at Iftar and Sehri hours. People don’t remember having seen such power shortages in their lifetimes, especially in Summers. Normal life has been crippled and ongoing Ramzan fervor has been dampened due to the worsening crisis. The power shortage has also impacted patient care of mostly home-bound patients who survive on oxygen concentrators. Government is in a world of its own, detached from the predicaments of our people,” they said.
Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) senior leader and former Minister, Yashpal Kundal has demanded a curb on power cuts to give relief to the people troubled by it. Kundal said that Prime Minister, Narendra Modi had come to district Samba, we had full faith that people would not get anything other than Jumla.
Kundal said that due to the unannounced power cut, the anger of the people towards the PDD and the district administration is increasing. He said that due to the lack of electricity, most of the students are facing problems. People’s daily routine is also getting affected. There is no fixed time for power cut. The examinations of the students are going on, but even this is not being taken care of.
Former Minister J&K and Senior Congress leader, condemned the Modi Government for the power crisis in Jammu city that has crippled the daily lives of people. He said that long and unscheduled power cuts have become a daily reality for people and the Government is doing absolutely nothing to mitigate the crisis.
He said in a statement here, today that severe disruptions in power supply continues to occur and there is no management or plan of action proposed from the Government’s side on how they will tackle this problem.
He said, while they talk about smart cities and smart villages, the sad reality now is that even buzzing cities are left begging for basic necessities from the Government. They can call it a ‘power crisis’ but it’s majorly a ‘governance crisis’ which is a result of this Government’s incompetence and mismanagement, Sawhney said.
Expressing serious concern over prevailing power crisis in entire Jammu and Kashmir, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has castigated Jammu and Kashmir Government for gross failure to deal with the situation and giving publicity a priority. In an official statement issued by Jammu and Kashmir unit of Aam Aadmi Party, it has been stated that on one hand other parts of country are marching ahead in terms of power development with models of Delhi and Punjab leading from the front but on the other hand situation in Jammu and Kashmir is turning worst.
” From last around one month, entire Jammu and Kashmir is reeling under darkness with severe power crisis and only thing that Jammu and Kashmir Government headed by LG administration has done is issuance of a press note wherein it has claimed that some additional supply has been ensured.” said AAP. Party also said that although Jammu and Kashmir UT is power producing having production capacity of approximately 4400MW from 28 Hydro Electric projects and the actual requirement for UT is 3000 MW but still there is severe power crisis.