‘Necessity is the mother of invention‘
Pallavi Sareen
Jammu, June 28: To save lives of poultry due to extreme heat after a five-day power-cut, Mohammad Munshi, an electrician used a car’s battery along with an inverter to supply electricity to a chicken shop. Without any formal schooling, this Desi Engineer managed to convert energy from a Maruti 800 car’s battery to power a ceiling fan.
Using a Luminous inverter to help change Direct Current to Alternate current, Munshi used his 35 years of experience as an electrician to help a chicken shop owner in Reasi’s Talwara Village.
“It is completely safe. The battery is of 12 Volt creating 18-30 Ampere current. It will turn Direct Current to Alternate Current and if it overloads, the fuse will trip. Aage koi fault hoga, trip kr dega. (If there is a fault in line, the fuse will trip),” Munshi said.
Kaka Khan, the owner of Saleem Meat Shop as all praise for Mohammad Munshi claiming that it was not only him that was grateful but “the chicken were grateful too.”
The residents of Talwara, most of whom are migrants who had to leave their homes due to militancy have gotten used to frequent power cuts. Due to administration’s apathy, they often end up undertaking repair-work themselves.
“For the past five days, there is no electricity in Talwara. We have tried repairing the transformer ourselves even though none of us have any formal knowledge of the same. But what to do? We can’t sit idly by,” said Jagdev Singh.
The solar panels that were installed in Talwara Police station have also been lying defunct since past one and a half years, locals said.
“We had called a repair man from Jammu but so far nothing has been done,” said the police officer on duty.
Electricity has become a major issue in Talwara Migrant colony and residents claim that every year, they have to face the worst power crisis in summers.
“Even previously when our electricity was gone for 17 days, we had to take to roads in protest. It appears as if without protest, we cannot get electricity,” Ex-Sarpanch of Talwara said.
Amid these power outages, Mohammad Munshi has become the village hero with his expertise in electric works. “I have been learning technical work since I was a child. My first ustaad (teacher) was a man from Himachal and it has been 35 years since I have been an electrician,” Munshi said.
