Irked by unscheduled power cuts, people protest against PDD in Pulwama

PULWAMA — Local residents in this south Kashmir town today held a protest demonstration against Power Development Department (PDD) for ‘unscheduled power cuts’ in the area.

The protesting residents blocked the Pulwama-Shopian road, causing the road traffic to come to a grinding halt for more than an hour. Protestors also locked the local PDD office while showing their resentment.

While talking to The Kashmir Pulse, Bashir Ahmad, a local resident said, “We are paying our bills on time but the (PDD) Department is not providing us the stipulated power supply.”

“Also, the issue of unscheduled power cuts is the result of unnecessary load on Feeder-B on which eleven hamlets have been allocated for electricity supply. In contrast, other two feeders are not even utilized to half of their capacity. We want equitable distribution as far as the load on these feeders is concerned,” he added.

Later, the Deputy Commissioner Pulwama, G. M. Dar came out of his office and talked to the protesting people while trying to pacify them.

DC Pulwama said that the demands of the people are genuine and will be addressed in a short span of time. “I have talked to the concerned officials and have asked them to re-distribute the feeders and equalize the load. Also, the receiving station needs to be upgraded for which I have directed the PDD officials to start the necessary work,” he said.