| Far flung areas of Baramulla district without electricity, potable water | | | S.Tahir-ul Haq
Early Times Report
BARAMULLA, Oct 25: Bijli Sadak aur Panni- all these three essentials are missing in various areas of Baramulla district.
The local residents are up in arms against the concerned authorities of PDD and PHE as they have failed to provide them portable water and restore electricity from past one week.
According to sources there are dozens of villages in Baramulla district including Darwa,Kachew Muqam, Kalantra, Pachar, Dandmooh, Mungam, Brandub, Shumlaran, Dudbugh, Durhama, Kohilian, Nilsar, Takiya Yousfshah and Sheikhpora, accused the Power Development Department (PDP) of resorting to unscheduled power cuts.
"From past one week, our area faced several unscheduled power cuts. We will be forced to stage protests if power supply is not provided to us as per the schedule, said sources.
Shabir Ahmad of Nilsar told early times that, "since past two weeks we are facing unscheduled electricity, we are paying our regular monthly bills and for what, if the same happens, we will not pay any bill in future.
Local resident said that the PDD authorities have resorted to hourly power cuts in these areas without discriminating between metered or non-metered areas.
The power cuts are worst in rural Kashmir, where consumers are already facing shortage of other sources of energy such as LPG and Kerosene oil, said a local.
A group of locals from Shumlaran village said that PDD has taken them for a ride. "Though the PDD claims that they are getting round the clock electricity, the fact is that from last one week we are facing unscheduled power cuts.
"Not only electricity but we are facing acute shortage of drinking water. It has been over one month since taps are running dry but nobody is paying any heed to our problem. We many times approached to the concerned authorities but to no avail, said locals.
They said that road connectivity to many villages is still poor though the R&B authorities claim large numbers of villages have been linked with roads through PMGSY scheme.
They further said that, "winter has almost approached to Kashmir and unscheduled power cuts have started infuriating the miseries of people in Kashmir valley.
It is learnt that residents of various isolated and ignored villages of Kandi belt are still using primitive methods like burning of wood to illuminate their houses and that too in the 21st century, which is completely showing the callous attitude of the government towards these far flung areas, said another local resident of an area.
Meanwhile, early times brought these problems into the notice of senior official of district administration Baramulla, who said that both electricity and drinking water facilities will be looked into, however the official maintained that, within a week's time, problems will be solved. |
|
