Srinagar: Proper planning and repeated mock drills have helped the administration to quickly respond to the situation that arose due to the heavy snowfall across Kashmir.
Within 24 hours of the snowfall, the administration completed the restoration of the electricity and connectivity in the valley.
From Friday, Kashmir received incessant snowfall that had blocked the roads as well as damaged the transmission lines of the power department.
Till Monday, Kashmir Power Development Corporation Limited (KPDCL) had restored over 99 per cent of the power supply in Kashmir after rectifying faults in the distribution network.
“Till today we have been able to restore 99 per cent of the electricity in the valley. Our men were on job ever since the snowfall started and kept restoring the damaged lines simultaneously,” said KPDCL chief Engineer Aijaz Ahmad Dar.
In urban areas of the valley, Dar said, 100 percent of electricity has been restored. “Only few areas, which are inaccessible are remaining and very soon the damages will be repaired there too,” he said.
Dar said the department is currently supplying 1550MW of normal load which had plummeted heavily due to the snowfall.
During the snowfall the department was actively responding to the consumers through its helpline numbers and social media handles.
“We responded to every call or tweet. We would note down the problem and send our men to the spot to rectify it,” an official said.
In rural Kashmir the damage was witnessed to the transmission lines as well as transformers. “Transmission lines were repaired despite snowfall. Transformers too were replaced in no time to ensure smooth supply of electricity to the people,” the official said.
Similarly, the Srinagar Municipal Corporation(SMC) completed snow clearance and has put its dewatering pumps into service for draining out water from waterlogged areas.
Commissioner SMC Athar Aamir Khan told The Kashmir Monitor that currently dewatering pumps were put into service at 50-60 locations.
“The snow was cleared and now water too has been drained out. We monitored every area during the snowfall,” he said.
Khan said the SMC had six-month-long planning of dealing with the situation during snowfall. “We conducted mock drills and had a six-month-long action plan for snowfall. We had hired tractors, procured machines and had everything from shovels to spades in place,” he said.
The SMC commissioner said their control room functioned 24*7 to respond to the grievances of the public.