Srinagar: Amid scorching heat, unscheduled power cuts are taking a toll on residents in various areas of the summer capital.
Residents of various Uptown and Downtown areas said that for the past few weeks, power supply gets snapped multiple times on a daily basis without any schedule.
Greater Kashmir received many complaints from various Srinagar areas about power cuts.
“As temperatures are soaring, we are facing unscheduled power cuts. We hope that the KPDCL will look into the issue without any delay. We are unable to use any gadgets like fans amid heat wave. Our school-going children and elderly are most affected. Even on Sunday we had multiple hours of power cuts till afternoon,” said Adnan Ahmed from Nishat.
The traders in these areas said that the issue is also taking a toll on their business.
They said many traders are associated with work that particularly requires uninterrupted power supply.
They said restaurant owners and other food outlets require freezers and ACs to run continuously and amid power cuts, they suffer.
“We have to store food items, ice creams, and other perishable items which require freezers and other gadgets to run continuously. Amid the scorching heat, the power cuts are making it tough for us, and at the same time, it irks customers,” said a food outlet owner at Hazratbal.
Meanwhile, the residents from Hazratbal outskirts also complained about unscheduled power cuts. They said dozens of areas that get the power supply from the Burzahama Hazratbal receiving station are facing day-long power cuts.
“Even today, on Sunday, we had a day-long power cut, and there was no information from the officials about the reason for this day-long power cut. In addition to this, there are hours-long power cuts daily,” said Faisal, a local from Burzahama.
Chief Engineer, KPDCL, Javaid Yousuf Dar, said that most of the power cuts are work-related.
“Maintenance and developmental works are going on across various Srinagar areas which force us to go for power cuts sometimes. Even these days, there are works going on in various Srinagar areas in which multiple departments are involved. These issues push us to go for power cuts as work has to go on. In addition to this, there are routine 1-2 hour scheduled power cuts in Srinagar on a daily basis. I can understand amid heat, it gets inconvenient,” Dar said.