Kashmir News Trust #KNT
The Kashmir Chamber of Commerce & Industry (Inc) urged the LG Manoj Sinha to announce amnesty for power tariffs in favor of Commercial and Industrial Consumers. “The Industries in Jammu & Kashmir region have almost collapsed due to the pandemic Covid -19 crises,” KCCI said.
President Sheikh Ashiq Ahmad drew the attention of Manoj Sinha, Lieutenant Governor and Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary, towards the industrial sector of Jammu & Kashmir, due to the financial crunch a number of units have not availed the previous Power Amnesty Scheme.
He also requested the authorities not to disconnect the power supplies forcing the Industrialists to close down their units.
“Recently we met Principal Secretary, Power Development Department, J&K and we are waiting for the outcome of our suggestions given in the meeting. We request LG Administration to announce amnesty to the Commercial Consumers at par with Domestic Consumers so that they can pay their (pending) electricity bills waiving interest and penalties besides after settling the same with the Power Development Department.”
He said the power situation in Kashmir both for industries as also domestic use remains to be uncertain and erratic load shedding and curtailment of power is frequent beyond tolerance, the supply is erratic yet the bills are raised irrationally. Transformers damaged take months to get replaced leaving people on lurk to cry for the essential requirement of electricity. With the onset of winter, unscheduled and prolonged power cuts have become an unwritten rule, not only in non-metered areas but in metered areas as well.
“The administration must come out immediately with a comprehensive power supply policy to cope with intermittent and unscheduled power cuts during this harsh winter,” he said. [KNT]
