KL Report
SRINAGAR
Blaming load shedding for the unscheduled power cuts in valley, Chief Engineer Power development department (PDD) on Monday said the department is expected to announce the new power curtailment schedule for the coming winter in near future and that the schedule would be same as of last year.
Talking to a local news agency, KNS, chief engineer PDD Bashir Ahmad Khan said that the department has observed extra load of power consumption during the recent past and that the power curtailment will be similar to that of the previous year this winter. “It is expected that the power supply in non-metered areas would remain suspended twice in a week and in metered areas it would be once in a week.”
Khan further stated that the main reason for the power curtailment this winter is due to over load in the system. “We have capacity of 1000MWs and the consumption is 1100, last year we have 1025 MWs consumption in valley,” Khan said, adding that due to the early arrival of the cold wave in valley, the consumption has reached far more than what was expected.
PDD chief further stated that the usage of heaters and extra gadgets has hiked the consumption graph and that the usage of ‘illegal’ power connections worsens the situation.
When asked about the illegal supply being provided to ‘influential’ citizens of the state, Khan said that they do not have any criteria for the electricity supply here. “We just have names in the record whether the person is common or having high profile, everyone is equal.”
Answering the question that the metered areas do not get the committed supply of electricity here, PDD Chief Engineer accused that people in the metered areas are involved in ‘Hooking’ and due to that the power supply to these areas get affected. “We do not get as much revenue as is expected in the metered areas, people there bypass the meters.” He further stated that the department cannot have the inspection squad in every corner of the valley and that people must understand that meters are for their own benefit.
