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This story is from July 25, 2021

New power lines, roads brighten Eid for Shopian tribal hamlets high in hills

Residents of Nai Basti, Chowan, Dunaroo, Mir Mohalla, Khari Mohalla and Dangarpura in Keller block of Shopian district in Jammu & Kashmir feasted on more than the traditional ‘Wazwan (Kashmiri cuisine)’ on Bakrid this year. For the first time in decades, these isolated tribal settlements high in the mountains got a taste of “bijli, paani aur sadak (electricity, water and roads)”, the three basic necessities of civic life, just a few days before the festival, thanks to the Union Territory administration’s ‘Back to Village’ or ‘B2V’, initiative.
New power lines, roads brighten Eid for Shopian tribal hamlets high in hills
Representative photo
NEW DELHI: Residents of Nai Basti, Chowan, Dunaroo, Mir Mohalla, Khari Mohalla and Dangarpura in Keller block of Shopian district in Jammu & Kashmir feasted on more than the traditional ‘Wazwan (Kashmiri cuisine)’ on Bakrid this year. For the first time in decades, these isolated tribal settlements high in the mountains got a taste of “bijli, paani aur sadak (electricity, water and roads)”, the three basic necessities of civic life, just a few days before the festival, thanks to the Union Territory administration’s ‘Back to Village’ or ‘B2V’, initiative.
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In settlements such as Ferrawad and Shadab Kharewa, more than 50 Kms from Srinagar, transformers have been put up and wires are being stringed across undulating mountainous terrains.
Black-topping of a new Chowan-Darbal road has created hope of connectivity with the block and district headquarters during winter when the area geets 10-12 meters of snow.
The rapid progress on the ground under the B2V scheme is no mean feat for the administration of a district that has emerged as the hub of new-age militancy and is surrounded by Pulwama, Kulgam and Anantnag.
The B2V programme combines Central programmes such as Integrated Power Development Scheme for upgrade of distribution network and state or Panchayati Raj schemes to push last-mile delivery through the district administration.
“Some of the hamlets received power supply for the first time. In others such as Nai Basti and Chowan, ‘usable’ supply resumed after several decades as the defunct power lines – in many cases made up of barbed wires – and transformers were replaced,” Maqbool Naik,
Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation’s (KPDCL) executive engineer in charge of the area, told TOI.
“Supply is very good. There’s proper voltage. The power can be used,” Nisar Ahmed, sarpanch (village head) of Nai Basti and Chowan, told TOI. For an area where regular supply is a chimera, this is a big change. Power is supplied from 9 a.m to 1 p.m and 3 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Naik explained that earlier such far-flung locations with power lines, often made up of barbed wire, the supply was of no use to people because of low voltage. “Due to poor transformer infrastructure and random extension of lines, the voltage dropped to a level where gadgets would not work. KPDCL’s Shopian workshop succeeded in replacing all damaged transformers and put up new ones wherever needed in the district a day before Eid,” he said.
Ahmed also sounded happy over black-topping of Chowan-Darbal road, bringing connectivity to the end of the block. “The main Kellar-Batkhojar road was narrow and in a bad shape. In winter, when we get 10-12 meters of snow, it becomes non-navigable as dozers cannot fit in. The new road will allow connectivity to Keller or Shopian even in winter,” Nisar said.
But he was still unsatisfied over water supply. “There are pipelines and taps in households. But supply is intermittent. We have been seeking a separate water tank for Chowan but of no avail,” he said.
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