Srinagar, Oct 26: Power Development Department (PDD) is all set to commission Alastang Grid Station next month and supply additional 300 Mega Watts (MWs) of electricity to consumers during winters.
Chief Engineer Power Development Department, Qazi Hashmat told The Kashmir Monitor that Alastang Grid Station will be commissioned within a month to meet the increasing demand of electricity during winters.
Work on Alastang Grid Station had started in 2010, but the project missed several deadlines.
“Alastang grid station will supply around 300 MW of electricity which will help in meeting increasing demands of energy during winters. We have a demand of around 1800 MWs during winters. We are facing a shortfall of around 800 MWs. Once the Alastang grid station is operationalised, it will help in meeting power demand during winters,” he said.
An official in the PDD said once the Alastang Grid Station is operationalized, the load on Pampore and Zainakote Power Grid Stations will be reduced to a large extent.
Pampore and Zainakote are the main Power Grid Stations that supply electricity to Srinagar, Ganderbal and Pulwama districts. “Ganderbal district too gets electricity from Zainakote grid station and remains overloaded. Once the Alastang Grid Station gets completed, it will reduce load on two existing power grids and help the state to upgrade the power supply in the valley,” the official said.
In December last year, Centre had allocated additional power of around 800 MW for Jammu and Kashmir in view of higher demand in winters.
Meanwhile, people from old city areas of Srinagar including Karanagar, Zaldagar, Nawa Bazar, Safa Kadal, Fateh Kadal and Khanyar said for the past two weeks they are facing increasing power curtailments.
Manzoor Ahmad, a resident of Fateh Kadal area, said there are at least 20 power cuts in a day. “Every year we are assured of better power supply, but the situation is going from bad to worse,” he added.
Chief Engineer said due to the maintenance work of grid stations there are power curtailments.
“Normally the process starts in first week of November, but last year due to early snow fall and we had to face huge problems. This is why we started the process early,” Qazi said.
