Jammu announces daily power cuts, sets up control rooms for heatwave

Heatwave has triggered a severe water and power crisis in several areas of the Jammu division, prompting authorities to set up control rooms and appoint nodal officers in each district to cater to public complaints.

On Monday, authorities announced a four-hour load-shedding in urban areas and an eight-hour cut in rural areas on a daily basis.

Over the past week, several places, particularly Jammu city, have faced major water and power shortages, leading to public protests, and the stopping of a Vande Bharat train at a railway station.

In view of the mounting distress, Divisional Commissioner Ramesh Kumar has directed deputy commissioners to establish control rooms and appoint nodal officers in each district to handle complaints related to power and water supply.

Kumar, who chaired a meeting to deal with the issue, emphasised the need to maintain a buffer stock of transformers and water tankers in each district to meet the public demand.

He urged officials to augment water and power supplies to minimise public inconvenience during the summer.

An official said it was decided that the chief engineers must ensure their teams are ready for timely repair of pipelines and replace public health engineering motors and damaged transformers.

"Engineers must be responsible and accountable for delivering services," the person said.

Jammu has been reeling under an extreme heat for the past fortnight.

Jammu city on Monday recorded its hottest day of the season at 42.8 degrees Celsius, 3.7 degrees above normal for this time of year, according to the meteorological department.