Seven years later, Darigund power station still incomplete

Two years after missing its deadline, a 6.3 MVA power receiving station under the federal government sponsored Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DUGYJ) scheme in Darigund, Srigufwara in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district remains incomplete.

Local residents had pinned their hopes on the station for better electricity supply. “We were expecting to get a better power supply from this receiving station but at least seven years have passed now but the project is yet to be completed,” said Ghulam Mohd Rather, a resident of Darigund. “We suffer a lot due to frequent power cuts in our area.”

Rouf Ahmad Ganai, also a resident of Darigund, said that the station would cater to the public in the Darigund, Srigufwara, Hugam and other villages on the peripheries of the Anantnag township. “People here are facing severe power crises especially during winters. We are supplied less voltage but the administration is unmoved from the past several years,” he added.

The project was originally approved during the Peoples Democratic Party, Bharatiya Janata Party, and People’s Conference coalition government in 2015. It was inaugurated by the then legislator Abdul Rehman Veeri with the promise of improving electricity transmission in the Dachnipora belt. The work began only in 2019, said Assistant Executive Engineer of the Power Development Corporation, Javaid Ahmad Tak, offering no reason for the delay.

After the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s limited-autonomy in 2019, the administration stated that the project was being undertaken under the much hyped DUGYJ scheme for rural electrification. However, in September 2020, government officials had told ANI that the project that was being built at a cost of ₹3 crores was expected to be completed within three months.

Currently, Tak told The Kashmir Walla that “more than 80 percent of the project is completed” and that the remaining work “will be completed till end June this year.”