Owais Gul
Srinagar, Feb 23 : The overnight snowfall across Kashmir on Wednesday plunged entire valley into darkness as power infrastructure suffered almost 70 per cent damage while as normal life came to a grinding halt.
The heavy snowfall closed all major roads, disrupted air and road traffic. People across Kashmir remained indoors due to huge snow accumulation on roads.
In an exclusive conversation with the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), Managing Director of Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation Limited (KPDCL), Dr. Basharat Qayoom said that the electricity load plummeted this morning after heavy snowfall across the Valley as it caused extensive damage not only to the sub transmission distribution, but the transmission lines as well as the grid stations were also affected.
“Soon after the load plummeted, the men and machinery were pressed into the services to ensure early restoration of electricity and by this time, KPDCL has been in a position to build the load back to over 900MWs,” he said.
“We are about to touch 1000 MegWatts and the KPDCL is trying its best to push it to 1000 plus by this evening,” MD further said.
About damage caused by heavy snowfall, Dr. Basharata Qayoom stated that “If we go by the feeder outage, the damage was nearly 70 per cent. Our average load is 1550 MWs. We will be trying to complete the restoration process by tomorrow afternoon except for Kulgam where there is an issue of transmission towers.”
Pertinently, the majority of areas across Kashmir remained without electricity till evening due to the damage caused by heavy snowfall, resulting in sufferings to the people.
Moreover, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, P K Pole while talking to media persons said that 20 to 25 percent power lines have been affected due to snowfall. He said the divisional administration is working to restore electricity to the affected areas by evening.
In a tweet, KPDCL has stated that the electricity load has reached 934MWs. “With concerted efforts of KPDCL and @JkptclK valley load has reached 934MW, restoration activities are on since early morning,” Kashmir Power DISCOM tweeted.
In a separate tweet, the department has stated that the electricity restoration in Kulgam district will take a few days as two no towers of 132 KV Mirbazar kulgam transmission line feeding Grid station Kulgam collapsed.
“Two No towers of 132 KV Mirbazar kulgam transmission line feeding Grid station kulgam got collapsed due to heavy snowfall , power supply to Entire kulgam district shall remain effected for few days . Inconvenience regretted,” Kashmir Power DISCOM tweeted.
Notably, Kashmir Power DISCOM shared the pictures and videos of its employees, who were seen restoring the electricity in different parts of Kashmir.
One of the officials was seen wading through freezing-cold water, to restore a snapped conductor at Narbal. A video of his hectic efforts were also shared on the official twitter handle of Kashmir Power DICSOM—(KNO)
