Nasir Khuehami
Banadipora: Wevan, a small village in Bandipora district of northern Kashmir, is home to the Valley’s un-electrified population, notwithstanding government’s claims of illuminating every household under an exclusive scheme named Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana.
In winter, when the sun sets at around 5:30 p.m., only a few candles and marshals, the traditional torch, break the darkness in the village on the foothills of a hill here.
Local residents says that transmission poles and transformer were installed in the village under Deen Dayal Scheme but still there is no electricity.
“We have been running from pillar to post to get the electricity but to no avail,” the villagers said.
“We are living without electricity even after partition in 1947 and there has been no progress on the ground despite repeated assurances by successive governments,” the villagers said, adding, “The politicians only make misleading and false promises while seeking votes from us.”
“Our children struggle to study under the lamps,” said a local Mohammad Iqbal. “Most of the students drop out of school very early and lack of electricity is among main reasons for it,” he said.
The villagers appealed administration to solve their problem and bring the village on the Valley’s electricity map soon.
The Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana scheme has been designed to provide continuous power supply to rural areas but even after three years of its launch, it remained a non-starter as far as Wevan is concerned.
When INS contacted concerned Executive Engineer of Power Development Department Ghulam Qadir said that the department was working on it and area will be electrified soon under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana Scheme.
“We have installed transmission lines and transformer there. The village will get electricity very soon,” he assured.
