With the summer power crisis round the corner, J-K Power Development Department Chief Engineer D S Pawar made a shocking confession at a District Development Board meeting on Friday: nearly 45 km of a 32 KVA transmission line along with electric poles from Dul to Galarh in Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad’s constituency Kishtwar has been stolen.The confession was made in the presence of Azad, who was present at the meeting being held in Kishtawar. The infuriated Chief Minister made Superintendent of Police Mumtaz Ahmed immediately leave the meeting and ensure that all scrap dealer shops in Kishtwar town were shut down.Confirming that all the shops dealing in scrap in Kishtwar town have been sealed under orders issued by him, District Development Commissioner, Kishtwar, Shahid Inyatullah, said that he has constituted a committee to make an inventory of all the material dumped in these shops.“Action will follow in case any objectionable material is found at any place,” he said.Admitting that there have been instances of theft of electric transmission lines and water pipes from time to time in the district, Inyatullah did not rule out the involvement of departmental officials. SP Ahmed, however, said the police have presented challans in almost all the cases of theft reported in the area since 1995.Sources said that Friday’s meeting began on a cordial note, with Azad “appreciating” the progress of development works undertaken in Kishtwar. Trouble erupted when local MLA Sajjad Kitchloo pointed out that not a single new village in his Assembly constituency has been electrified during the last five years. He pointed out that even the PDD’s receiving station, built in 2002, has not been commissioned so far.As the Chief Minister asked the PDD’s Chief Engineer about this, the latter revealed that large chunks of a 32 KVA line along with poles between Dul to Galarh had been stolen. Many then complained to Azad about the theft of even water pipes laid down by the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department in the district.“I had asked for closure of all the scrap dealers’ shops in the town (Kishtwar) two years ago. What has happened to them?” asked the visibly upset Chief Minister. Kitchloo said that this was not an isolated incident in the district. “In 2001, the state Government took over a 32-km-long water supply line laid down by the National Hydel Power Corporation (NHPC) between Naiagad to Kishtwar in 2001 so as to augment water supply to Kishtwar town. However, when it came to water supply, nearly 5-km-long line of 8-inch diameter was found to be missing,” he said.
