Mir Iqbal
Pulwama, Nov 8: Hundreds of people protested in South Kashmir’s Pulwama town today against Power Development Department (PDD) for failing to repair the damaged transformers in the area.
Residents of Prichoo, Gangoo and Muran Chowk came on the roads early this morning and blocked main road connecting district Pulwama and Shopian of South Kashmir with summer capital Srinagar.
Protesters blocked the main road by putting huge wooden logs and disrupted the traffic for at least three hours. However, after official assurance the protesters allowed the smooth movement of traffic.
The residents including the students, shopkeepers and traders who were protesting, alleged that the frequent, long and unscheduled power cuts subject them to immense inconvenience. “Once a transformer is damaged it takes PDD officials weeks together to repair it and install the transformer at its place”, they said.
The business community said it has suffered losses due to frequent transformer damages and delay in repairing damaged transformers. “Despite paying electricity bills in time, PDD Pulwama is not repairing damaged transformers on time, thus, owing huge loss to our business,” Mohammad Younis, a businessman said.
Younis said: “From last more than a month, PDD employees installed a transformer almost a dozen times in Village Prichoo, which is developing some technical snag again and again.”
Protesters also alleged that Small Scale Industrial Unit (SSIU) has stopped repairing transformers due to nonpayment of their dues.
Shahid-ul-Islam Mir, Junior Engineer PDD Division Pulwama said the PDD employees approached Prichoo residents to lift the transformer for repairing but the residents refused to hand over the damaged transformer to PDD employees, as they were demanding that new transformers be installed at the place. “The residents were demanding new transformer, but at the same time didn’t allow us to lift damaged one,” he said.
“There are 34 number of transformers presently damaged in PDD Division, Pulwama and department was trying its best to repair them as soon as possible”, Mir added.
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