Excelsior Correspondent
BHADARWAH, Feb 12: The residents held protest here today against the Power Development Department (PDD) for its failure to restore power supply despite lapse of around one week.
The people gathered at Takia Chowk and Seri Bazaar today afternoon to join the protest against Additional District administration as power restoration work has not begun in the town due to which people are left to face a lot of problems.
On last Saturday, Superintending Engineer Chenab Region Asgar Hussain had declared that power restoration after snowfall will not take more than three days at least in District Doda. But protestors alleged that in reality it has not been restored and the process is going on at snail pace with the concerned department is showing no urgency or seriousness.
The residents said the entire Doda district was reeling under darkness for last seven days as PDD has failed to restore power despite fair weather since last 4 days.
“The local administration seems to be in deep slumber and least bothered to bail out the resident from the crisis. This has made our life miserable and forced us to come on the roads so that our problem is addressed”, Mushtaq Chunna, a protestor said.
Advocate Mohammad Majid Malik expressed dismay over the sluggish approach of administration in mitigating problems of people arising from recent snowfall since last five days. He said that there is no electricity in Bhaderwah, Doda, Kishtwar, Ramban and other parts of the region, adding that PDD is trying to restore power supply but to no avail as field staff is without the required infrastructure and equipments to replace the damage machinery, poles, wires, transformers and insulators.
He urged upon Governor Satya Pal Malik to look into the problem and demanded strict action against local administration and erring PDD officials.
The protesting residents said that due to power failure ATMs have also stopped working and they are unable to withdraw money. They threatened that if administration failed to restore essential services, they will again come on streets to protest.
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