New power sub-station for border area villages

Change is the essence of growth. But the problem is that people always fear change. This, in turn, impedes growth. People feared electricity when it was invented. They feared coal. They feared the airplane when the Wright brothers made their first flight. Penicillin was feared. The windmills were feared with sceptics claiming these contraptions would hold back the natural flow of air. Fear arises out of ignorance. To remove this fear, people must be educated. In a cluster of 21 villages located near the International Border (IB) in Gurdaspur, quality education remains a rarity even after 76 years of being a free nation. This was the main reason why AAP leader and Chairman of the Punjab Health Systems Corporation (PHSC) Raman Bahl had a harrowing time in explaining to the villagers the benefits of establishing a new 66 KV electricity sub-station. These areas witnessed long power cuts leading to agricultural activities getting affected. Earlier, electricity to these hamlets came through the sub-station located in Jaura Chattran village. This entity was overloaded and was barely able to supply power to other villages. Hence, there was a dire need for an alternative source of power. “Once the sub-station comes into being, all your power problems will vanish,” he told them. Slowly, there was a turnaround of sorts. A majority of them started seeing logic in Bahl’s proposal. Once they accepted that a new power station would help them get rid of their long-standing problems, Bahl approached the PSPCL officials. Deputy Chief Engineer Arvinderjit Singh Boparai became the fulcrum around which the project started revolving. He and his team comprising XEN Kuldeep Singh, XEN (Technical) Deepak Kumar, SDOs Amardeep Singh Nagra and Hridyapal Singh Bajwa completed the groundwork in double quick time. Finally, the PSPCL head office, keeping in view the exigency of the situation, sanctioned Rs 5 crore. Officials say the most significant part of a project is its sanction. Once the sanction comes, things start moving smoothly. There is an element of Pakistan too which is involved. Villagers often complained that high-speed winds blowing in from the neighbouring country’s tehsils of Shakargarh and Narowal, uprooted power cables. “There are occasions when it is calm on the Indian side but winds blowing from the Pakistan side would damage the power cables,” said an official. The sub-station will come up at Chak Rahian hamlet near the International Border. Round one jointly goes to Bahl and the diligent and disciplined PSPCL officials. The next logical step for Bahl would be to make sure the benefits of quality education flow to these villages so that in future no technological invention can be looked down upon.

Death, a great leveller

The other day, in the Bhumli village cremation ground, three bodies, lying side by side, wrapped in sombre white, evoked special attention. ASI Bhupinder Singh, in a fit of rage, had gunned down his wife, Baljit Kaur and son, Balpreet Singh. Later, he committed suicide by shooting himself. This tragedy played out in a time span of just six hours. It was time to remember Euripides, the great playwright and poet of ancient Greece who said, “No one can confidently say that he will still be living tomorrow.”

(Contributed by Ravi Dhaliwal)

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