Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Dec 26: As the temperatures plummet in Kashmir, the power crisis has deepened leading to frequent unscheduled cuts by the Power Development Department (PDD).
The PDD has resorted to unscheduled power cuts, and in majority of the metered areas the cuts are around 14 hours per day while in non-metered areas it is six hours.
Sources said that the metered areas have around 98 hours power cut per week while as per the scheduled power curtailment programme of the PDD it is 63 hours power cut per week. The 63 hours power cut in unmetered areas includes 2 hours evening cut, one hour morning cut, one hour night cut weekly and 5 hours day cut daily.
And in the metered areas, as per the scheduled power curtailment programme of the PDD, it is 28 hours power cut per week while unscheduled cuts are of 42 hours.
The power generation has nosedived with the freezing of water bodies in Kashmir forcing the PDD to import maximum power from Northern Grid. The State owned Power Houses of Kashmir have 237 MWs of installed generation capacity while presently they are generating a total of 25 MWs only.
The Upper Sindh-I has installed generation capacity of 18 MWs, Upper Sindh-II 105 MWs, Lower Jhelum 105 MWs, Ganderbal 9 MWs and their generation has dropped and they generate only 6 lakh units per day these days.
Sources said that the demand these days is 1800 MWs which is around 400 lakh units of power per day.
The Chief Engineer, Mainte-nance and Rural Engine-ering (M&RE), Shahnaz Goni, told Excelsior that there are unscheduled power cuts in certain areas of Kashmir due to local problems in these area including overloading of feeders and transformers.
Goni said that in South of Srinagar due to some technical problems there is two hours extra power cut and similarly there are some technical problems and overloading in other areas which results to unscheduled power cuts.
The Chief Engineer said that as per the load agreement the demand for power is between 650 MWs to 700 MWs these days while the PDD is supplying over 1100 MWs. She said that in the morning the PDD is supplying 1120 MWs and in the evenings 1130 MWs when actual demand is 1700 MWs.
Goni said that some people are restoring to power thefts and department runs awareness campaign for judicious use of power and also carries out inspections and has also fined people for the thefts.
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