Amid the severe heatwave and the mercury hovering around 44 degrees Celsius, the J&K administration has ordered a daily power cut of eight hours in the rural areas across the Jammu division.
The Jammu Power Distribution Corporation Ltd (JPDCL) has also ordered a daily power cut of 4 hours in the urban areas of Jammu. The curtailment order came on Monday evening and its implementation began early this morning.
The power curtailment order that has come soon after polling was completed in all five Lok Sabha constituencies in J&K, has irked the electricity and water consumers.
The authorities were resorting to such lengthy power cuts despite the top functionaries of the Union territory having recently assured the consumers that 24×7 electric supply will be available in areas where smart meters are installed.
Irratic power has also hit the drinking water supply to households. Angry residents a few days ago stopped the Vande Bharata train near the railway station.
The UT is facing acute electricity crisis amidst claims of J&K being made a power generation hub of North India.
Meanwhile, Jammu’s Divisional Commissioner Ramesh Kumar convened a meeting to review the status of water, electricity and irrigation supply.
The meeting discussed measures to augment water and power supply to avoid inconvenience to the public amid scorching summer.
The Divisional Commissioner directed the chief engineers to keep their men and machinery ready for timely repair of pipelines and replacement of PHE motors and damaged transformers.
Directions were issued to set up a control room and appoint a nodal officer in each district to receive public complaints regarding power and water supply.
Deputy Commissioners were asked to closely monitor the power and water supply situation and resolve the issues, if any, in the shortest possible time.