Hundreds of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients, dependent on long-term oxygen therapy during winters, are gasping for oxygen in Kashmir due to prolonged and unprecedented electricity cuts, owing to poor planning to procure electricity ahead of winters this year.
Ghulam Muhammad Mir, 85, a resident of Srinagar’s Alamgari Bazar, had a near-death experience in November when he was left gasping due to prolonged electricity outage. Mr. Mir is a COPD patient and, like hundreds of other such patients, is dependent on continuous oxygen supply.
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“Doctors have suggested that my father needs round-the-clock oxygen supply. He will collapse in case there is a break of half an hour. We have a power-run oxygen concentrator at home but electricity is threatening to kill my father. I can’t see him dying for want of electricity. There were instances when we thought we lost our father due to unscheduled electricity,” businessman Sami Mir, the patient’s son, told The Hindu.
Mr. Sami Mir, a Chennai-based businessman, said he cut short his stay in Chennai this year “to ensure his father gets oxygen supply without a break”. “We have electricity generators on standby. However, one has to get out in freezing temperature to start it in the middle of a night. We would not see such prolonged night cuts in the past as this year. How many such patients could afford generators in Kashmir? How many must have died because of poor electricity supply? The authorities need to wake up,” he said.
M.Y. Qureshi, a COPD patient from Lal Bazaar, had to arrange temporary boarding in the plains of Jammu, which is warmer than Kashmir, for four months to escape any medical emergency due to lack of electricity. “There was no other option this season but to shift to Jammu to ensure our father faces no severe medical condition. Electricity supply is really worse this year,” S.S. Qureshi, son of the patient, said.
According to a study by the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Kashmir has a high prevalence of COPD at (17.3%) and an increasing population of these patients require long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT), “up to 15 hours a day”. “Majority of the patients (89.6%) were economically dependent on their family for treatment expenses,” the study said.
According to the official figures, Kashmir requires 1800 megawatts MW of power to maintain electricity supply for 16 hours a day. However, the month of November saw supply dipping to 1250 MW, resulting in frequent cuts between 12 to 16 hours. The latest Power Development Department (PDD) figures suggested that local generation in December remained between 50 to 100 MWs only. However, there has been a slight improvement after a fresh purchase from the Northern Grid. “At present, 1500 MWs is being imported for Kashmir against overall load over 2000 MWs,” official sources said.
The PDD’s last-minute purchase of electricity from the Northern Grid has also impacted the exchequer of the Union Territory significantly. Official sources said the PDD would buy a unit from the Northern Grid up to ₹10 if the advance purchase was done in September against ₹20 being paid per unit currently. The domestic consumers pay around ₹3.27 per unit in Kashmir.
“Unscheduled power cuts have reached an alarming level leading to significant losses in multiple sectors, impacting businesses, education, healthcare, and overall quality of life,” National Conference general secretary Ali Muhammad Sagar said.
The NC leader said the long-duration outages and unscheduled power cuts were causing immense frustration among citizens, “who have borne significant financial burden in terms of increased tariff without reaping the intended advantages”.
“Consumers were promised an improvement in the power following the setting up of a high-powered committee for the power purchase but the situation on ground had gone from bad to worse, pushing them towards harm’s way,” Mr. Sagar said,
He urged J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to “fix the responsibility”. “Why did the government let the alarm about dip in water discharge in dams go unheard and didn’t prepare a proposal to purchase from the Northern Grid? Government is fully responsible for the genesis of the crisis. It didn’t happen overnight. There was a prolonged dry spell for all of us to observe which this administration has failed to acknowledge,” he added.
Published - December 16, 2023 03:12 am IST
