For the first time in 74 years, the residents of Jammu & Kashmir's Machil will be able to experience regular 24-hour power supply. Machil is a part of the Kupwara district along the India and Pakistan border. It hasn't had 24-hour power supply since independence.
Anshul Garg, the District Magistrate/Development Commissioner of Kupwara, took to Twitter to announce the good news. He also mentioned that this is the second sector to be powered after Keran sector earlier this month. The residents of Machil would earlier receive only three hours of power supply every day.
Garg tweeted, "Grid connected power for Macchil area on #LOC in #AspirationalDistrict #kupwara for first time ever; 2nd milestone in a month after Keran area; New era of development begins for over 25,000 people in 9 Panchayats that received only 3 hour power daily through DG sets"
Until now, Machil was getting electricity through Diesel Generator (DG) sets, which have now been replaced with electic power grids. The challenges of using DG sets was the availabality of diesel and difficulty in distribution.
Garg told NDTV, "We have kick-started by providing electricity to nine villages but in the next 20 days all remaining villages would also be getting electricity 24x7 via grid."
Almost 25,000 people will benefit from this. The engineer working in the area told NDTV that due to the challenging terrain of the region, erecting pillars was difficult.
From a security point of view, considering Machil's location so close to the border, this is a big step. These developments are a part of the government's efforts to ramp up infrastructure along the LoC region for better connectivity and accessibility.
(With inputs from NDTV)
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