The J&K administration has come under fire from Opposition political parties for the ongoing electricity crisis across Jammu and Kashmir. The National Conference, PDP, Panthers Party, Congress, DPAP and Apni Party held the administration squarely responsible for power crisis in the Union Territory.
Frequent outage is causing inconvenience not only to domestic consumers but has also hit the industrial and agriculturists and horticulturists sectors hard.
Slamming the administration for massive shutdown, the National Conference said the unprecedented scenario has broken all previous record of power outages.
In a joint statement Zone presidents, Ali Muhammad Dar, Dr. Bashir Ahmed Veeri and Javed Dar, have said, “The ruling dispensations, both at the Center and the local administration in J&K, are sleeping over the pressing need to find an early solution to the worst ever power crises.” ‘
They said such a crisis has never been witnessed in the last three decades. On one hand, the government has whimsically increased power tariff renewing old agreements, while on the other electricity continued to play hide and seek with the consumers.
Despite tall claims of improvement in the power scenario by the administration, nothing has changed on the ground. This summer, the power consumers of Kashmir valley have faced a double whammy –increased power tariff and 31- to 56-hour weekly power curtailments. Now, when the people are expecting relief, the KPDCL again resorted to curtail.
Panthers Party leader Vilakshan Singh strongly condemned the power curtailment pointing out that Jammu urban was witnessing two-hour long declared power cut and even longer in rural areas.
He said unscheduled power cuts are much more than the scheduled ones. The BJP boasts of ushering in a an era of growth and development in J&K, but the power outages being faced by the residents of the UT have exposed the false claims of the saffron party.
Recalling that the UT administration had promised 24-hour power supply at least in the areas where smart meters are installed, Singh noted that the areas with smart meters too are witnessing long power cuts.
Congress chief of J&K Vikar Rasool Wani also criticised the BJP government for the power crisis.