Bandipora, July 20: Bandipora is grappling with one of its worst power crises this summer, with residents and traders alleging that the Power Development Department (PDD) is imposing unscheduled power cuts beyond the officially notified load curtailment schedule, severely affecting daily life especially business activities.
Consumers in Bandipora town getting electricity from Patushai, Ajar and Nussu Grids said electricity supply is being disrupted for several additional hours despite the department’s notified Load Curtailment Programme (LCP). According to the official roster, one feeder is scheduled for power cuts from 10:00 am to 11:00 am, 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm and 9:00 pm to 10:00 pm.
However, residents alleged that electricity is also being snapped between 6:00 am and 8:00 am, besides an unscheduled hour long outage regularly despite having smart meters. “We were told we will have 24 hour electricity. That is too much to ask, we request for a scheduled power supply at least,” an agitated residents said.
“These additional cuts are not reflected in any public notice. The department should either strictly follow the notified schedule or publicly announce any revisions so that people can plan their daily activities,” residents told Kashmir Convener.
The prolonged outages have drawn sharp criticism from the business community, which claims the erratic supply has caused substantial financial losses during peak summer trading.
“This is one of the worst power crises in recent years. The administration talks about supporting MSMEs and local businesses, but nobody seems aware of the hardships we are facing. We are suffering losses running into lakhs of rupees every day be it iron smith, fabricators, printing presses, joinery mills and other shopkeepers,” said Feroz Ahmad, a trader in Bandipora market.
Another shopkeeper alleged that officials were passing responsibility instead of addressing the issue. “Whenever we contact the PDD, field staff blame senior officers, while senior officers shift the responsibility to junior engineers. Either they are passing the buck or they have no idea what is happening,” he said.
Several traders told Kashmir Convener that they have been forced to operate diesel generators during business hours, significantly increasing operational costs and affecting commercial activity.
Consumers have urged the department to maintain transparency in implementing the power curtailment schedule and issue advance public notices whenever changes become necessary.
When contacted, a senior PDD official said the curtailments were being implemented strictly under the Load Curtailment Programme based on the Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses of individual feeders.
“The classification and duration of curtailment are determined by the competent IT Division. Bandipora Town-II feeder currently falls under a category requiring three hours of daily load curtailment. Our role is limited to implementing the approved schedule,” the official said.
The officer added that any request for revision of the feeder’s categorisation should be taken up with the Executive Engineer, Electric Division, Bandipora, the competent authority in the matter.
Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Bandipora Indu Kanwal Chib told Kashmir Convener that a one-day shutdown had recently been carried out on an irrigation feeder to facilitate repair works aimed at benefiting the farming community.
However, residents maintain that the ongoing unscheduled power cuts have persisted for several weeks and are unrelated to the temporary maintenance shutdown.
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