Rehan Qayoom Mir
Srinagar, Oct 10: The Chambers of Commerce and Industries (CCIK) on Tuesday urged the government to address power curtailment issues in the valley on an urgent basis.
The CCIK president, Tariq Ghani, while addressing a press conference in Srinagar, urged the government to promptly attend to the ongoing power curtailment issues in the region.
Ghani also emphasized how these disruptions are taking a toll on the hotel industry, impacting businesses and livelihoods, while appealing to the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to consider extending the time amnesty on electricity bills, providing some relief to affected establishments.
“As we all are aware of the unsecured power curtailment in Kashmir, it has impacted the hotel industry and caused severe losses to them,” he said.
“The room tariff is also not high, as we have to use electricity appliances as curtailment is at its peak in the valley. Also, the prices of petrol and diesel are high, and we also use generators only because of curtailment. It’s a matter of concern for everyone and for our business industries as well,” Ghani said.
He further added that, he has been assured by the Chief Engineer KPDCL that they will arrange power supply from outside Kashmir, and the curtailment issues will be resolved soon.
“Our main issue is that the department has set a power amnesty scheme till September, and we want to request Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to extend the scheme further, as a lot of people have not availed of the scheme yet. Further, we at CCIK would like to request the authorities to make the scheme available to commercial consumers as it has been provided to domestic consumers only,” Ghani added.
