Srinagar: A few minutes of winds and overnight rains have sent Srinagar city into darkness.

As soon as the rains began last evening along with winds, electricity started playing hide and seek in major city areas including Residency Road, Lal Chowk, Budshah Chowk, Saraibala, Magarmal Bagh, Jawahar Nagar and Rajbagh.

The Power Development Department (PDD) authorities claimed that it took them 12 hours to restore the power supply snapped due to the damage caused by evening winds on Thursday to 33kv Cheshmashahi transmission line.

Chief Engineer PDD Kashmir Hashmat Qazi said, “We are committed to 24 hour uninterrupted power supply in city centre right from TRC Radio Kashmir crossing upto Batamaloo but Thursday evening the 33kv Cheshmashahi transmission line was damaged by the winds that started blowing in the early evening hours but not the rains that lashed parts of valley.”

Meanwhile majority of the traders in city centre particularly residency road, main Lal Chowk, Jehangir Chowk and Jawahar Nagar areas alleged that PDD authorities have started enforcing unscheduled power cuts daily days before the move offices were closed in Srinagar and shifted to Jammu and threatened to protest on the roads if the PDD authorities fail to keep their commitment on 24 hour power supply in the city centre areas.