Naharpora residents protest as PDD fails to repair damaged transformer
Sopore: Inhabitants of Naharpora Mohalla and shopkeepers in the Iqbal market Sopore on Saturday staged protest against Power Development Department (PDD) for failing to provide electricity to them from the last five days.
The protesters including men and women blocked the road at Iqbal market for several hours to express anguish against (PDD) for installing a low capacity 250 KV transformer in the area comprising hundreds of households and shopkeepers.
The aggrieved residents and shopkeepers said the transformer due to heavy load develops snags frequently.
“Every year on beginning of winter season, authorities don’t bother to install a high capacity (400KV) transformer in the area,” they said.
The protesters demanded separate or upgraded power transformers that could support the power load of the locality and the market, saying “250 KV transformer was unable to take the load of 300 shops of Iqbal market and the Naharpora locality of Sopore and remains faulty most of the time.”
“The PDD is not ready to upgrade the transformer from 250 KV to 400 as requested by the residents of the area,” a resident of Naharpora locality said.
The locality and the market are without electricity from last few days as the PDD has failed to restore the faulty transformer in the area, Showkat Ahmad shah, a resident of Naharpora, said.
He said that they have been appealing the authorities to replace the 250 KV transformer by 400 KV transformer, or provide a separate transformer for the locality and the market “but they don’t pay any heed to our concerns.”
“We face immense hardships and we have met many higher officials to intervene but to no avail,” said Muhammad Ashraf Zargar, a shopkeeper and President Beopar Mandal Iqbal market Sopore
Meanwhile, PDD official said that the transformer has been taken to a service station for repairs it and will be reinstalled soon.
He said that separate 100 KV transformer has already been sanctioned for the Naharpora locality and the installation process has been started today.
Bilal Ahmad
