Metered areas allege prolonged power cuts in Srinagar

Srinagar, Dec 02: Despite assurances that the winter schedule would strictly adhere in the valley, Srinagar’s metered localities accused the Power Development Department on Friday of failing to provide electricity as per the winter schedule.
The residents of various localities, including Chinar Coly, Bagh-e-Usman (A and B), Chinar Avenue, Chinar Colony, Islamia Colony, Pathan Colony, and other areas of the city, expressed their resentment against the authorities for failing to provide their power supply as per the new electricity schedule. These areas receive power from F1 via the Gulab Bagh receiving station.
Abdul Rahman Khan, a resident of Chinar Colony, said despite living in smart-metered areas, “They are facing prolonged power cuts during the morning and evening hours.” “We hardly get electricity for a few hours in a whole day,” he said.
Khan alleged that there are 6–8 hours of power cuts and urged the department to look into this issue so that residents will get a sigh of relief.
As per locals, these areas were cabled and smart-metered in June and July 2022, but despite that, these colonies have been put in non-metered zones with an 8-hour-long power cut.
They alleged that several colonies are not fully smart-metered and have been put in metered areas that receive only 4 hours of power daily.
Another local, Shakir Ahmad from Islamia Colony, said that in the absence of the power supply, they are facing problems. The department had installed smart meters in the area, but they had failed to provide an electricity supply as per the schedule, he said.
“Despite paying bills on time, we are forced to spend evenings and nights in darkness.” “Even the administration recently hiked the power tariff by 18%, but things have remained unchanged on the ground,” he said.
We appeal to the LG Manoj Sinha-led administration to direct the Chief Engineer PDD to address the issue; otherwise, we will be left with no option but to resort to a peaceful demonstration against the administration.
On inquiry from the concerned EXEN, Salim Ali termed the allegations of residents as baseless and stated there can be power cuts for 3-4 hours but not 6-8 hours-long periods.
“The department is committed to the new curtailment schedule. Sometimes there can be faults at some places, but they are being repaired within a minimum time gap,” he said.
The copy of the curtailment schedule issued by Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation Limited shows 8 hours power cut in these respective areas, signed by the Chief Engineer with this newspaper counters the claims of the Executive Engineer.