A public advisory issued from the office of Deputy Commissioner Srinagar this Saturday was a big surprise for the power consumers and the traders running the sales outlets of heating appliances in Srinagar city. Till now the government used to restrict the power supply to few hours in the morning and few hours in the evening but now the Deputy Commissioner Srinagar has restricted the rights to sell or purchase the crude boilers and other heating appliances in Srinagar city. Interestingly people in Srinagar city are yet to know from the government that whether the decision to ban the sale of crude boilers has been taken by the state government to restrict the use of crude boilers and other heating appliances in entire Kashmir valley or Srinagar city alone. As far the general standards of understandabilities are concerned even naives can understand that had the government banned the sale of crude boilers and other heating appliances in entire Kashmir valley, then Deputy Commissioners of other districts would have also issued similar advisories for implementing this base in their concerned districts. Now if Deputy Commissioner Srinagar has taken the decision on his own in isolation, then he owes many unanswered explanations to both the general public and as well the Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh holding the charge of power department portfolio. Even if the ban was to be implemented in Srinagar in isolation, the advisory should have been issued either from the office of Chief Engineer PDD (Kashmir) or Superintending Engineer PDD Circle Srinagar.
It is for the Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and her Deputy Nirmal Singh holding the charge of power department portfolio to take a serious note of this unpopular decision of Deputy Commissioner Srinagar and take a decision suiting the whims and wishes of power consumers in Srinagar city.
Apparently it looks Deputy Commissioner Srinagar has not taken care of his administrative competence in issuing the advisory without the consent of the concerned department on the approval of the concerned minister and relevance of implementing the decision comes into question for the reasons that almost all the areas in Srinagar city. Before issuing the advisory the Deputy Commissioner Srinagar was required to look at the very remote possibilities of the use of crude boilers and heating appliances in Srinagar city where almost all the areas are metered and cross checking methods are very randomly used by the field functionaries of power development department to curb the misuse of power. Even the authorities of the power development department admit the fact that in very rare cases the power tariff payments are pending from the general public and instead huge power tariff payments are pending against the paramilitaries, army and several civilian establishments of the central government. Otherwise also the consumers are at liberty to use power and pay for the units consumed recorded by the power tariff meters. Above all taking an unpopular decision in presence of a popular government speaks volumes about the tendencies of the bureaucrats to impose decisions of their own whims and wishes on unwilling populations. So by and large it apparently looks that Deputy Commissioner Srinagar has taken an unpopular and unwanted decision and plans to implement this controversial decision on unwilling populations. Now it is for the Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and her Deputy Nirmal Singh holding the charge of power department portfolio to take a serious note of this unpopular decision of Deputy Commissioner Srinagar and take a decision suiting the whims and wishes of power consumers in Srinagar city.
