“Erratic power supply is not only a cause of the growing annoyance of the consumers but it is now also bringing under stress the education of children, functioning of healthcare facilities at the hospitals and business of the traders”
The erratic power supply in Kashmir is not just an inconvenience to the consumers, students doing home work in evening hours and healthcare workers running hospitals in the peak evening hours but also a very huge loss to the traders running the retail outlets of heating appliances in Srinagar and major towns of Kashmir Valley. While there is huge demand for power inverters in the markets due to unprecedented rise in unscheduled power cuts, the demand for the heating appliances like room meters, radiators and ACs has declined due to installation of smart meters and intensified night raids on consumer to check power thefts in peak hours. With Kashmir Power Development Corporation Ltd (KPDCL) most likely to roll out a fresh power curtailment schedule just to increase the time duration of the power cuts in coming few days the demand for the traditional heating appliances is likely to decline further with every passing day in the forthcoming mid winter season this year. So erratic power supply is not only a cause of the growing annoyance of the consumers but it is now also bringing under stress the education of children, functioning of healthcare facilities at the hospitals and business of the traders running the retail outlets of heating appliances in Srinagar and major towns of Kashmir Valley. With facility of power inverters becoming a compulsion for the purposes of the facility of power backups due to rise in unscheduled power cuts even the people living below the poverty line avail the loan facilities of the Jammu & Kashmir Bank for purchasing power inverters .
“The compulsions developing for the Government to purchase power despite huge revenue deficit is finally found in the functioning of basic facilities of people having a direct bearing on their health and education. Ultimately Government finds a compulsion in purchasing power for not only providing lighting facilities to the people but also for increasing their accessibility to certain key basic human needs like health facilities at the hospitals in the peak hours .”
Though it is an irrefutable fact that consumers of low income groups can’t repay loans in time due to their meagre sources of income but it also a fact that they find a compulsion in finding accessibility to atleast lighting facility which their children desperately want to do the home work in evening hours. The back-up energy of the power inverters has become a priority for people not only for education of their children but also for use of mobile phones and computers in the peak evening hours. People want power not only for running the heating appliances but also for the education of their children and as well as functioning of the hospitals in the peak hours. As such the compulsions developing for the Government to purchase power despite huge revenue deficit is finally found in the functioning of basic facilities of people having a direct bearing on their health and education. Ultimately Government finds a compulsion in purchasing power for not only providing lighting facilities to the people but also for increasing their accessibility to certain key basic human needs like health facilities at the hospitals in the peak hours .
