Erratic power supply in rural Jammu cause of major losses to farmers: Sukhnandan
Villagers migration to urban areas over-flooding cities
STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Drawing attention of Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory (UT) administration towards the plight of Jammu based farmers, the senior BJP leader and former minister Choudhary Sukhnandan Kumar sought Lieutenant Governor’s intervention for regular power supply to the rural areas otherwise the farmers will vacate the villages and rush towards cities.
In absence of electricity, the farmers are not able to irrigate their fields which led to major damage of Rabi crop. In absence of rainfall, the villagers are totally dependable on regular power to irrigate their fields. Moreover, shortly the students in villages have to appear in exams and how they will study in long hours electricity cuts, lamented the former minister Sukhandan Kumar while addressing the media at Bharatya Janata Party (BJP) office in Jammu.
Besides the scheduled power cuts, the electricity remain off in rural areas for over ten to twelve hours. The newly installed receiving station near Udhaywala is meant for City areas and was made operational in five days. But in Marh block, one receiving station at village Saharan near Lahori Chak is still not made operational while as the engineers had assured that it will start working soon. Even the officials have misinformed the LG J&K UT, said Sukhnandan Choudhary, adding, “Let J&K administration take action appropriate against such engineers, who lied to the government.”
“Recently I alongwith a delegation of farmers met LG Manoj Sinha who assured us that 200 MW additional power has been procured. Sinha Sb is trying his level best to provide us the uninterrupted power, the senior BJP leader said, adding that the department is making false statements and misguiding LG administration, Sukhnandan said.
“If this darkness in villages will continue, the families from villages in Jammu will migrate to cities areas flooding the urban areas causing more difficulties for the authorities to manage heavy and huge rush in City areas,” Ch Sukhandan Kumar opined.
“We seek relief for the villagers and appeal to the J&K LG Manoj Sinha to sort out the electricity shortage issue in rural Jammu at an earliest to make our UT prosperous especially the rural areas as per the vision of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the former minister said.
Others who joined Ch Sukhnandan Kumar in press briefing include Paramjeet Pammi, Sanjay Saraf, President MC Akhnoor and Surinder Kumar Ex-President Akhnoor.
