Budgam, Jan 14: The residents of Warpora here staged a protest on Monday against Power Development Department (PDD) for depriving them of electricity.
Assembling outside Deputy Commissioner Budgam’s office amidst anti-PDD sloganeering, the protesting residents said that from the last 45 days, they are without electricity.
“The transformer feeding electricity to our village isn’t supplying sufficient electricity,” Aamir Ali, a protester said. “The 100 KV transformer is repeatedly getting damaged due to overload and from the past 45 days we are completely reeling under darkness.”
Another protester, Ather Bashir said that they were continuously appealing PDD to provide them another transformer or upgrade 100 KV with a high capacity one.
“But our pleas are falling on the deaf ears. Today we are forced to protest as we don’t have any other alternate left,” he added.
Also, protesters alleged that from 1972, PDD has not repaired electric poles and dangling transmission lines in Warpora.
Interestingly, the protesters said that they are ready to raise funds and purchase a transformer privately but PDD is not giving them permission for the same.
When contacted, Executive Engineer PDD Budgam, Nasrullah Jan said that Warpora village is not meeting the criteria for installing high capacity transformer.
He said that the damaged transformer was repaired but villagers are not allowing PDD to install it.
“They have ‘hijacked’ the transformer. Now I have told AEE [Assistant Executive Engineer] to lodge an FIR against those who did it,” he asserted.
While rebutting Jan, locals said that nobody has “hijacked” the transformer and officials are “lying”.
