Jahangeer Ganaie
Srinagar, Apr 12 : The residents of Chewa Kalan area of South Kashmir’s Pulwama district are up in arms against the Power Development Department (PDD) for hiking their power tariffs every month and have demanded authorities to reconsider its decision.
The residents of the area told the news agency that the authorities have sent inflated bills after enhancing consumption load without carrying out any survey.
They said that their monthly tariff had been increased from Rs 900 to Rs 1300 in March and this huge increase was already taking a heavy toll on locals, who are financially weak.
The residents said that this month they increased the tariff to Rs 1867, which is unaffordable for them.
Nazir Ahmad, a local resident said that the area is facing unscheduled power cuts as they get supply for a few hours only but the tariff at the same time is being increased every month.
Ahmad further said that if there would have been adequate supply then they wouldn’t have been against the decision of hiking the tariff to Rs 1300.
He, however, said that the Rs 1867 tariff isn’t even in the metered areas, then how come authorities have increased their tariff to Rs 1867.
Sameer Ahmad, another consumer, said that in the last year or two, the government has increased tariffs at least 4-5 times and the government must think of poor people before making such a decision.
He said that the government has failed in upgrading power infrastructure and in providing scheduled power supply then on what basis tariffs are being increased without thinking of poor people.
Locals said that they have brought this issue into the notice of concerned authorities but nothing has been done in this regard as of now.
The residents appealed to the PDD that they should revisit their decision so that people won’t have to suffer.
They have sought intervention of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, MD PDD and District Magistrate Pulwama Dr Basharat Qayoom in this regard.
