When it is needed in bundles, it is offered in sliver. The power crisis that the people in Kashmir face during winters seem to be a matter of fate. It looks like that people here are destined to live in darkness, no matter the place is gifted naturally with water that can generate enough electricity for its residents. Well, that is now a trite debate, and people seem to have lost the belief that one day they can have 24 hour power supply in winters. It looks like a dream that can not be discussed even in a dream.
What the people living here do expect is scheduled power cuts. At least if the department sticks to a schedule devised by the department itself, people would be thankful to the officials. But till now we have seen that power outages don’t follow any schedule. It is as chaotic as it can be. Not just this, the voltage is dismally low. It makes rooms look dark even when the bulbs are on.
In this situation, when winter chill has gripped the valley, people are suffering hugely. This time around people don’t need electricity just for the purpose of lighting, but more importantly, to heat up the spaces. The living becomes nearly impossible when there is low voltage electricity, and when the power outage schedule is absent. The original and eternal argument on why we can’t have a reliable, and sufficient, power supply may be a matter for some other day; right now people are asking just one question; where is the power outage schedule and why the concerned department doesn’t stick to it.
After all it is a perennial problem, and there is no extra work needed to find out a solution to it. The practice of framing a schedule is so old, and one could have expected from the department to follow some timetable – at the least. The long term problems of power generation, power transmission, pilferage, and fee collection can be taken up later. For the time, ensure scheduled cuts and a minimum voltage that makes gadgets work.