Power curtailment at Sehri, Iftaar times to be minimised: PDD

By: Riyaz Bhat

Srinagar, Feb 25: The Power Development Department (PDD) Tuesday said that it will reduce power curtailment fixture at Sehri and Iftari times in the holy month of Ramazan.

Besides, it also said that the department will likely run a trial on a revised schedule before the commencement of Ramadhan.

A top official of PDD informed the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that the department has already minimized the curtailment in almost all areas of Kashmir division. However, it will further reduce it at particular times in the upcoming holy month of Ramadhan.

“We will try to reduce the power curtailment at Sheri and Iftari times. Besides, we are planning to run the minimized curtailment on a trial basis before Ramadhan,” the official said.

The official further said, “PDD has already reduced the power curtailment that has been in effect from the middle of winters. But, wherever we will find that the areas have extra curtailment, we will try to minimize it further at Sehri and Iftari times.”

Pertinently, KNO has already reported that the PDD is likely to take a call on modification of power curtailment schedule a week before the commencement of the holy month of Ramadhan.

Sources in the department earlier had informed that it may consider a slight modification in the ongoing power curtailment schedule a week prior commencement of the Ramadhan.

“As of now PDD has not taken any call for revising the power curtailment schedule. But if there will be any proposal of modification in the schedule, the department will take a call a week before the commencement of holy month Ramadhan if required,” sources had said.

Notably, the hydel power generation from the power plants across Jammu and Kashmir has further reduced by five percent—owing to the low water level, in the past one month,

Overall, the hydro power generation from the local plants in Jammu and Kashmir has reduced by 84.17 percent.

In the month of January, the Power Development Department (PDD) was generating nearly 250 Megawatts of power from the local hydel projects that amounts to 20 percent of the total generation capacity.

However, in the ongoing month, the power generation has further reduced by five percent. —(KNO)