Srinagar, Feb. 4 -- The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, notwithstanding its proclaimed status as a power-surplus region owing to its vast hydroelectric endowments, continues to languish under a debilitating and perennial electricity crisis that has assumed alarming proportions in both of its capital cities, Jammu and Srinagar. With the advent of every winter and summer season, the inhabitants of these urban centres are compelled to endure an ordeal marked by chronic, prolonged, and often arbitrary power outages that disrupt the rhythm of daily life and erode public confidence in the administrative apparatus entrusted with power generation, transmission, and distribution. The electricity consumers, who are the involuntary victims of ...