Srinagar: The Kashmir Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) on Monday urged J&K’s Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha to announce amnesty of power tariffs in favor of commercial and industrial consumers.
The business body, in a statement, said that the industrialists of the Jammu & Kashmir region have almost collapsed due to the crisis induced by the Covid-19 pandemic.
President KCCI, Sheikh Ashiq Ahmad drew the attention of LG Sinha and Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta towards the industrial sector of Jammu & Kashmir saying due to the financial crunch a number of units have not availed previous power amnesty scheme.
He requested the authorities to not disconnect the power supplies, which would force the industrialists/commercial establishments to close down their units.
“Recently we met the Principal Secretary, Power Development Department, and are now waiting for the outcome of our suggestions. We request LG administration to announce amnesty for the commercial consumers as has been done for domestic consumers so that they could pay their pending electricity bills after availing interest waiver on outstanding dues, and penalties,” he said.
The KCCI also said that the power situation in Kashmir, both for industries as well as domestic use – continued to remain uncertain. He said erratic and frequent load-shedding which often goes beyond the notified schedules is a source of huge heartache, as are the “unreasonable bills raised irrationally”.
“Damaged transformers take weeks to get replaced. Unscheduled and prolonged power cuts have become an unwritten rule, not only in non-metered areas, but metered areas as well,” it the KCCI statement said.
“The administration must come out immediately with a comprehensive power supply policy to deliver people from intermittent and unscheduled power cuts during this harsh winter,” the statement said.
