Gurez, a picturesque valley, in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district is not even connected to the power grid even though the 330 megawatt Kishanganga power projected is functional in the area.
The Gurez valley which still doesn’t have access to grid connected electricity gets just about six hours of power supply daily through government installed generators. It gets power from 5 am to 6 am and then again in the evening for five hours from around 6 to 11 in the night.
An official told news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), said that a proposal to construct 33-KV Line from Bandipora to Gurez, was sanctioned under DDUGJY/IPDS in 2015-16 but the government and KPDCL’s distribution wing failed to construct the proposed line for the area and the scheme was subsequently closed.
However, in 2018, a DPR which is still awaited funding was prepared with a cost of Rs 160 Cr for providing power supply to the area but it is still as a dream for people as of now as the it’s 67-km line will pass over high altitude and avalanche-prone passes of Gurez, especially Razdan Top at an elevation of near 12,000 ft.
Advising Government, the locals said that the separate power project in the Gurez will be a permanent solution to power woes here.
“Although we were promised by the government that a separate power project would be given for our area, but nothing has happened in this regard yet,” Mushtaq Ahmad a local said.
Nazim Hameed, another engineering student says that the 330 MV power project is located in the same Valley which is generating 1,713 million units per annum by diverting water from Kishanganaga river to an underground powerhouse. “You can imagine how unfortunate we are living here who are not getting proper electricity,” he said.
Another group of locals said that the lack of electricity is the first thing that worries tourists here. “Every tourist who comes here first says he will stay for a several days but when they find out about the electricity situation they go back the next day,” Majeed Lone, a local hotel owner said.
“So I can say due to non-availability of proper electricity, the tourism here has been deeply affected,” he said, adding that they consider the grid connected electricity as a dream.
The locals also have sought immediate intervention of LG Manoj Sinha in this regard so that their grievances are addressed at the earliest.
