"Dyar-e-ishq mein apna maqaam paida kar, Naya zamana nayi subh-o-shaam paida kar", these lines by famous Urdu poet and philosopher Allama Iqbal, inspires one to build a new world with renewed hope. It urges a call to action towards a world lit up by love and peace.
As the national capital reels under a power crisis and the discomfort of the city's dwellers is splashed across the media, few - if any - pay any heed to another part of the country not too far away where darkness has become a way of life for its people.
Two hundred and four kilometers from Srinagar - the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir - lies the arid district of Kargil in Ladakh province, made familiar to most thanks to the infamous war in 1999 between India and Pakistan. Ironically, the war and ensuing politics did nothing to connect the people of Ladakh with rest of the country on issues that were more pressing for them.
Today, Kargil is simply an overnight stopover for most people traveling via Srinagar to Leh- the far more popular twin district of the Ladakh province. Their struggle to participate in the country's development has been virtually invisible for the media, as have been its challenges that continue to plague the region. In addition to year-round connectivity, a major hurdle faced by the inhabitants of this cold desert in leading an acceptable quality of life, is electricity.
Ask a local living in the town of Kargil and he would shrug nonchalantly on being asked about the state of electricity, "There is no problem," he'd say. "It comes for six-eight hours a day." Seen from the perspective of an urban Indian, the benchmarks for basic amenities are so poor that he cannot fathom the passive acceptance among the locals of this poor state of electricity, since they see this as better than no electricity at all!
Electricity reached the Kargil region during the seventies, when Diesel Generators (DGs) illuminated seven or eight villages. According to forty-year old Mohammad Muslim, "Before the DGs came into existence for unaware people like us; we would use Bamba, a local lamp that required kerosene oil. We would walk for four to five hours to reach the town and get the oil."
Hopes were illuminated again in 2004 when the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) gave the go-ahead to the 44-MW Chutak Hydroelectric project in Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir, at an estimated cost of Rs 675 crore. The CEA's objective behind setting up the Power plants was to give an impetus to the economic development of the region.
The Ladakh region is a high altitude plateau devoid of vegetation and prone to severe winters. The area remains cut off from the rest of the country for vehicular traffic for many months a year. Indeed, power supply was required to make the inhabitants of this region feel that they have not been partners in the progress that the rest of the country was beginning to flaunt those years.
Despite its strategic location and conflict being an inevitable component of its past, Kargil was ignored and forgotten for long. Even after the announcement of the setting up of the plant in 2004, it took two years to actually start work on the ground. By 2009, the wait had only gotten longer.
"We have to depend on generator sets for meeting our requirements for electricity as there are no power plants here. We are eagerly waiting for the Chutak Hydel Power plant to start functioning in Kargil so that we have to depend on lesser amount of petroleum products," Officers from Army's 'Forever in Operations' Division had said this in an interview then.
The wait finally came to an end in 2012 when the responsibility of illuminating Kargil District was given to Chutuk Hydel Project, by far the most successful power project in the entire Ladakh region. Despite the sufficient power production, the supply of electricity is still an issue in the far flung villages of the district. Located seventy kilometers from Kargil town, Tai Suru Village faces huge electricity shortage. According to villagers, power is available only for four to five hours a day which creates numerous challenges for the villagers.
When asked about the grim situation of power in these remote areas, one of the officers, on request of anonymity, said that not enough transmission lines have been laid in these villages, creating the shortage despite there being the potential to generate enough electricity.
It is pertinent to mention the role of the KREDA (Kargil Renewable Energy Development Agency) that has succeeded in lighting hopes even in the far flung villages of Kargil which use solar energy. As per a report published by Anayat Ali Shotopa, an All India Radio employee in Kargil, KREDA has established solar power plants which generate about 2.5 megawatt electricity, saving the District Administration an astounding 40 Lakh Rupees annually.
However, the scattered villages pose a huge problem that adversely affects the distribution and transmission through power grid systems. The transmission lines are very long, resulting in poor voltage regulation and high distribution losses. This also requires huge capital investment which is financially not feasible. Therefore KREDA is concentrating on a decentralized power generation policy, believed to be the best alternative for such rural and far-flung areas of Kargil-Ladakh.
The Charkha Development Communication Network, understands that everyone in the village agrees that the situation undoubtedly has improved a lot as compared to the past but when there is potential, why keep Kargil in the dark?
The views expressed in the article are that of the author.
