J&K’s Machil gets electricity 74 years after Independence

Hyderabad: For the first time after 74 years of India’s independence, Machil Sector in Kupwada district gets 24-hour power supply. Until now, electricity was being provided to 20 villages in the Machil sector through Diesel Generator (DG) sets but now they would be getting power through electricity grids.

Earlier this month, Kenar sector in the same district saw a 24-hour electricity supply for the first time.

“We have kick-started by providing electricity to nine villages but in the next 20 days all remaining villages would also be getting electricity 24×7 via grid,” Kupwara District Collector Anshul Garg said, “subsequently about 25,000 people will benefit in this sector alone.”

Machil is about 65 km from Kupwara district headquarters and remains cut off from the rest of the Valley for almost six months. As it is situated just along the Line of Actual Control with Pakistan, many cases on infiltration are reported from this area. It is also one of the areas that witness a lot of shelling.

Infrastructure around is being ramped up along the LoC continuously to tackle the menace of cross-border terrorism and infiltration.Officials claim that under the Prime Minister’s relief package as around ₹ 3,000-4,000 crores were given to Jammu and Kashmir under the electricity distribution head.