Jammu, November 25: Thousands of people living in villages of Doda and Kishtwar without electricity have pinned high hopes from the Union Territory (UT) administration.
Situated just 45 km away from Doda town, five panchayats of Dessa village in the district are still living under darkness as nearly 70 per cent areas are yet to be electrified since Independence. Apart from that, nearly 40 villages of Kishtwar and 61 hamlets of Doda district have not been provided grid connectivity.
Sheinkly, Gurkhan, Kunda, Gramdi, Saras, Gorkund, Chanderbatan, Thana and the Mushal areas of Dessa village have been deprived of basic amenities such as road, healthcare and electricity due to ‘half-hearted’ attempts by successive regimes of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
“At least 61 hamlets in Doda have not been connected with grid stations till date. The work has been allotted a private agency and hopefully, within few months, the areas will be electrified,” said a senior official in Doda.
“Successive governments in erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir had made half-hearted attempts as their main focus always remained towards the district headquarters as far as development was concerned. We hope the UT administration takes a holistic view of the problems and address them,” Vijay, a Dessa villager said.
Dessa is as beautiful as Kashmir and has moderate climatic conditions throughout the year, but the government allegedly neglected the area as most of the villages here have no road connectivity. Mostly, the people have migrated to cities for better future of their children, but those who can’t afford to go are living a tough life as there is no development in the area.
“In Kishtwar, 41 villages were un-electrified till 2018. Solar lights were provided to electrify the untouched villages. The electrification could have been done much earlier but the private agency engaged in the work has not been doing work up to expectations,” a senior official in the administration said.
