Hitting out at the Jammu and Kashmir government over "power crisis" in Kashmir Valley, CPI(M) today said the sector should be be given focus in the state's budget as rural and far off areas were experiencing blackouts for days, affecting essential services like health.
"The state government has failed to provide electricity to people especially those living in the Valley during harsh winters," senior CPI(M) leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami said.
He said the issue of power crisis had not been addressed by any of the successive governments, resulting in adversities to the people and causing an economic inertia in the state.
"Despite having resources for power generation, the state continues to starve for energy as it has not been given due share in the various hydro-electric projects. NHPC continues to monopolise the hydro potential of the state," he alleged.
He said that there was immediate need to improve the transmission and distribution system and to augment the power scenario in the state.
The government needs to focus on the state's power sector in the budget to bring people out of this mess, he added.
"Though the government had decided to establish transformer workshops at divisional and sub-divisional levels, nothing concrete has been done," Tarigami added.
He stressed for keeping buffer stock of transformers available in every division and sub-division of the Power Development Department (PDD) in the state.
"Despite negligible power supply to the consumers, they are subjected to pay full power tariff. Instead, the practice should be that the consumers pay only for the duration they avail the electricity," he said.
