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Kashmir Valley plunged into darkness

The entire Kashmir Valley has been plunged into darkness after two transmission towers were completely destroyed in blasts near Sheer Bibi in Jammu region.

Restoration work, says an official of the state power department, is expected to begin any time now.

The emergency restoration system of the Power Grid Corporation of India Limited was airlifted and transported to the site. However, PGCIL experts refused to undertake restoration work immediately for security reasons.

"We have now offered to provide them security and hope that restoration work will begin soon," said the official of the power department.

"Full restoration will take two months," says S S Salathia the state power minister.

He says that one 132 KV transmission tower and two 220 KV towers connecting Kashmir Valley with the northern grid were destroyed near Banihal area resulting in disruption of power supply to the valley.

The damage, he says, is estimated at around Rs 8.5 million.

"I have only 50 MW of power at my disposal with which we are running essential services. Even if the power supply is temporary restored it won't be of much help," said Qazi Mohammad Syed, chief engineer of Kashmir.

He plans to visit the site with the Divisional Commissioner (Kashmir) to see the situation for himself.

On Wednesday afternoon, the power minister announced in Jammu that all the four units of the gas turbine have been made operational and the Valley has got an additional 80 MW of power.

However, Qazi says, "I don't have any such information."

"The peak hour demand is 650 MW. We have to resort to massive power cuts in Kashmir. Only two to four hours of power supply can be provided even after all the four gas turbine units become operational and restoration work is completed at Sheer Bibi," says Qazi.

Compared to the Valley, people in Jammu have power for 20 hours. An agitation launched by the Bhartiya Janata Party and other parties forced the government to drastically improve the power supply in the winter capital.

Authorities in the Valley can do little better than issue paid advertisements in local newspapers asking people 'to bear with the inconvenience'.

On their part, local newspapers are coming out with truncated editions to cope with 'the inconvenience'.

During winters, the state has to import power from the northern grid as the water levels in the major rivers fall drastically. Power plants in the Valley presently do not generate more than 50 MW of power.

"We are being discriminated against. In winter, when we desperately need power, we have to face massive power cuts. We are human beings too and pay the power tariff regularly," says Mustaq Ahmad, a student in the Valley.

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