Arshid Malik
Ha. Ha. I just couldn’t stop laughing out loud. I burst out laughing when, a few days ago, I read a news item carried by a local news daily which reported that the Power Development Department (PDD) in Kashmir is going to entice certain consumers to spy on other consumers over power theft. The move had been described as a “desperate attempt” to arrest power pilferage. I have been getting spam attacks of laughter and there is no stopping it.
Now, why I burst out laughing is decided upon by various facets of the problem of power pilferage. One is the stated fact that the PDD has come about with this novel yet disturbing way of leashing-in power pilferage. You just cannot do that. I mean you cannot “entice” one consumer to spy upon another consumer. You would be hurting the sentiments of the people by doing that. The mentality that has carved out this “niche” strategy for curbing power theft, I believe, is caught up in the supra-juxtaposed militancy era of the 90s.
And the topping on the cake is that the department wouldn’t mind calling these spies “khabris”. It sounds like a typical scene out of a 70s Bollywood movie starring Poppat Lal. Where have all the good people gone and what has become of the so-called “democratic” setup? For sure, the rulebook has gone to the dogs. The PDD should add a CB to its PDD and rechristen it the CBPDD, which would be read as the Criminal Bureau Power Development Department. The thing that made me laugh out the loudest is the fact that the Power Development Department in Kashmir has thousands of employees under its belt whose job is to manage and overlook transmission and distribution of electricity in the State of J&K. If these people, employees of the department – hundreds of whom are entrusted with the very job of checking power pilferage, inspectors and all – are unable to do what they are meant to do then they should be sacked. The truth behind the matter is that these are the very people who have encouraged power pilferage in every manner as they are utterly corrupt and would sell a unit of electricity to just anyone for a buck or two.
Check this out: These people even found ways to beat the digital meters installed by the Department to monitor usage of electricity in residential as well as commercial areas. Isn’t this a peculiar example of the pot calling the kettle black?
The whole thing is a colossus of mistakes and too many mistakes on one platter makes one laugh. Or should I weep, for I know that we the people of Kashmir are fighting a fight for our rights while we have totally disregarded our duties. Power theft holds more water for us than the morning tea? Something is terribly wrong. Yes, somehow, the situation we, the people of Kashmir, are stuck in is parabolically obtruse to our shifty yet reticent beliefs.
