Srinagar Apr 23 PTI Kashmir is going through one of its worst power crisis as unscheduled and prolonged cuts in supply in the holy month of Ramzan have left the people distraught People in the Valley said there was disruption in power supply especially at the time of Sehri when pre-dawn meals to begin the days fast are taken and Iftar when the fast is broken The Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation Limited KPDCL for its part said the entire country and not just Kashmir was facing power crisis due to shortage of coal and imbalance in demand and supply There has been hardly a day when we have had electricity at the time of Sehri or Iftar During the day the situation gets worse We have never faced such a situation before Javid Ahmad a resident of Ganderbal said The scenario is not better in Jammu and Kashmirs summer capital Srinagar where many areas are metered In winters we used to get power supply as per the schedule But as soon as we entered the holy month we began facing issues in electricity supply We pay bills on time but rarely have we have had power supply at Sehri and Iftar This has created a lot of inconvenience Mohammad Yusuf a local said People complained that the situation was far worse in non-metered areas We have more hours of power cut than supply Most of the evenings our areas go dark Umar Ahmad a resident of downtown Srinagar said The locals have been regularly taking to social media to flag their concerns However it has not helped they alleged The National Conference NC on Saturday said Kashmir was facing a huge power crisis and appealed to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to intervene so that the people did not face any hardships in the remaining days of the holy month The ground situation the feedback we are getting what we see in the media this is a huge crisis something which has never been seen before Electricity is snapped at Sehri Iftar and Taraweeh night prayers NC general secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar said here He said the Lieutenant Governor had assured the people to have directed the authorities to look into the issue However the problem persisted We appeal to the L-G to seek answers from the authorities about the problems being faced by the people We have our own power sources We are also procuring electricity from outside which the administration says incurs losses to the government But the electricity is not reaching the people This raises doubts about the reasons given for the power outage the NC general secretary said The Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry KCCI also expressed its concern over the unscheduled power cuts We have never seen such worst and frequent cuts in the holy month especially during Sehri and Iftaar a KCCI spokesman said In the past the governments and administrations tried to help the people during Ramzan but harrowing experiences are unfolding in the holy month this year the chamber said Patients who are on oxygen support at their homes were struggling throughout it added KPDCL chief engineer Javid Yusuf said there was coal shortage across the country leading to frequent power cuts Also there is less power supply but the demand is huge and then the electricity generation in hydro power projects in the union territory is poor due to less rainfall he said Officials said the demand for electricity in Kashmir is around 1600 megawatt MW while the supply is only of about 900 to 1100 MW PTI SSB SSB CJ CJ

Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], December 30 (ANI): Two graduates from Jammu and Kashmir have developed a mobile phone application -"Ditoo" which helps people in reserving their tables for dine-in at eateries or to order-ahead meals for taking away.