Jammu faces worst power crisis, pilgrims suffer at Katra, Cong slams Govt

Jammu, April 27 (UNI) In the wake of the worst ever power cuts across Jammu region, the Jammu and Kashmir administration is facing criticism from various quarters demanding uninterrupted power supply to the consumers.
However, many political and non political organizations also staged demonstrations against the government.
President Hotel and Restaurant Association, Katra and Federation of Hotels, Restaurants, Industry and Commerce of Jammu Region, Rakesh Wazir in a handout issued here said that he spoke to the Managing Director, Jammu Power Distribution Corporation Ltd. (JPDCL), Shiv Anant Tayal and Chief Engineer JPDCL, Sandeep Seth and apprised him that Katra—the base camp of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi is the show case of Jammu and Kashmir to whole India and abroad but the recent power unscheduled cuts are seeing that total curtailment is being imposed at Katra as a result the town is facing electricity crisis and pilgrims at various accommodations are facing inconvenience.
“If the problem is not tackled immediately then it will affect the Tourism and pilgrims traffic in particular,” he said.
Notably, he mentioned that after Covid crisis, this time the yatra had just resumed and pilgrims started visiting the Vaishno Devi but if the crisis continues, it will affect the yatra in a big way.
Wazir further emphasised that even otherwise the power crisis is giving bad name to J&K because on one hand we are attracting huge investment in J&K through new Industrial Development Scheme and on the other hand, if the power crisis will continue, it will also affect the future investment
Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee on Wednesday came down heavily on the administration for the worst power crisis and warned the Govt. to take immediate steps to improve the situation before it further worsens.
Addressing a joint Press Conference here at Party head Office, the PCC Working President Raman Bhalla, Chief Spokesperson Ravinder Sharma, Treasurer Rajnisah Sharma, General Secretary Manmohan Singh, Spokesperson Sahil Sharma, slammed the Govt for its failure to cope up with the situation of power crisis for the past several days in entire Jammu and Kashmir, while situation is worst in the hot Jammu Region.
Chief Spokesperson, Ravinder Sharma said that this kind of situation is unprecedented and never witnessed in the past, as the Govt. is able to make available of around 50 percent of the requirement of power as against requirement of 1300 MW only 600 to 700 MW is being available to Jammu region while 1000 to 900 MW against 1700 MW, requirement of power in Kashmir region.
“The Govt. has totally failed to improve the situation since it is just beginning of the hot summer in Jammu and power crisis has been the worst and this has badly affected the water supply system especially in the rural belt of Jammu region, due prolonged 12 to 14 hours power cuts while in rural areas it is worse,” he said.
They also lashed out at the imposition of water tax in rural areas where there is no regular and proper supply of water during normal times also.
“The Govt. is fleecing the people in the name of unreasonable taxes of all sorts. The common power consumers are being served huge inflated bills while the big sharks are not being checked,” alleged the Congress leaders.
They demanded total withdrawal of water tax in rural areas besides seeking amnesty, for domestic power consumers and others apart from correcting the faulty power billing system.