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More than 500 villages in Lahaul and Spiti reeling under darkness for last ten days
Heavy snowfall has damaged 33 kilowatt electricity line from Thirot power station to Karga, hence interrupting electricity supply to the villages including district headquarter Keylong.
Ten days after snowfall wreaked havoc in the tribal region, 521 revenue villages in Lahaul and Spiti district in Himachal Pradesh remain in the absence of electricity and water supply.
Untimely snowfall in the region has caught people and administration off-guard as it has damaged 33 kilowatt electricity line from Thirot power station to Karga, hence interrupting electricity supply to the villages including district headquarter Keylong.
The situation is more worrying due to the shortage of staff in electricity board.
“It will take at least another five to six days to restore electricity supply to Keylong,” sub divisional magistrate of Keylong Amar Singh Negi told Hindustan Times.
“In the wake of staff shortage faced by the electricity board, the district administration in Lahaul and Spiti has sought assistance from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) for restoration of electricity lines across the region,” he said, adding
“There is acute staff shortage. We have requested ITBP to spare jawans to help restore electricity in the region. Besides, ITBP, district administration has also requisitioned help from the Himachal home guards,” he said.
“Another power line connecting Keylong to Kullu has also been damaged due to snow on other side of the Rohtang Pass,” Lahaul and Spiti electricity board assistant engineer Prem Chand said. “I have been instructed not to divulge into further details. All I can say is that damage is immense,” he said.
Absence of electricity supply has also hit the functioning in government offices.
“We have been directed to prepare the damage report as soon as possible, but we cannot do anything since electricity has also hit communication in the area,” a revenue official said on the basis of anonymity.
People in the region are using oil wick lamps to light their houses at night. “We are back to good old days when one oil wick lamp used to light a house,” a government official said.
Food and civil supplies department has apprised district administration that they would run out of fuel shortly. “Fuel stocks are falling down as demand for kerosene has increased after snow snapped power lines,” an official of food department said.
The only petrol pump in Tandi which is close to Keylong, owned by Lahaul Potatoes Society, has started rationing petrol. District administration begins stocking ration and fuel in mid October as 13,050-feet-high Rohtang Pass is officially closed for traffic on November 15.
The tribal region remains cut from rest of the state for more than six months in a year. Rohtang pass opens for traffic in mid may. It’s only after 1953 that region witnessed snowfall during the mid September.
