Annoyed over the frequent power outages in Jammu and Kashmir, the Chamber of Commerce & Industry, various political parties, and residents of the union territory are criticising the administration for the unprecedented situation during the peak summer.

Political parties organised protests in Jammu and Srinagar on the issue.

Expressing concern over the dwindling situation of electricity supply in the Jammu region, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI), Jammu on Tuesday urged Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha to take all possible steps for providing 24X7 power to bail out industry and common households from the crisis.

Addressing media persons, Arun Gupta President of CCI Jammu said that the current scenario in the Jammu region as far as electricity supply is concerned is quite unfortunate because even the areas having the latest smart meters are not being spared from unscheduled power cuts leaving aside the situation of consumers having old meters. He said despite the installation of smart meters people of Jammu are not getting a regular power supply.

The CCI President said that the power crisis has stalled work in the industrial areas to a grinding halt which is bad for the UT as this is contrary to what is being projected about development in the region.

Gupta said that in the past the government used to purchase power from other states to cover the power shortage.
The National Conference Provincial President Jammu Rattan Lal Gupta said that the prolonged outages have crippled normal life as a severe power crisis has gripped the Jammu division.

Expressing concern over the worst summer power crises in decades in Jammu, Gupta said, “Over the past fortnight, most parts of the Jammu division have received electricity supply only for about four hours daily that too in intervals ranging between 15 minutes and half an hour. The rising mercury, heatwave, and unscheduled power cuts in several parts of Jammu province have started affecting residents badly. Such a crisis has never been witnessed in the last three decades.

J&K Apni Party staged a massive protest outside the PDD Chief Engineer’s office against the unscheduled curtailment of electricity.

Led by Provincial President, Jammu, Manjit Singh, leaders and workers staged a dharna against the PDD’s failure to supply round-the-clock electricity.