The Jammu and Kashmir administration has sought the help of the army in the restoration of electricity after major parts of the union territory were reeling under power blackout following an indefinite strike by the employees of the Jammu and Kashmir power development department (JKPDD) from Friday night.
The PDD employees and J&K administration are at loggerheads over the latter’s decision to privatise the department’s assets and proposal to merge JKPDD into the Power Grid Corporation of India. The strike and the administration’s intransigence have put thousands of J&K residents to extreme hardships amid bone-chilling temperatures and Covid-19 pandemic as hundreds of patients are struggling to keep on to their oxygen concentrators.
Divisional commissioner, Jammu, Raghav Langer has written to the department of military affairs, ministry of defence, requesting for the assistance of the army in the restoration of the essential services.
“It is to bring to your kind notice that due to strike by electricity department personnel in the union territory of J&K, essential services have been severely affected in the Jammu region. We would like to hereby requisition the Indian army to assist in the restoration of the said essential services by provisioning manpower to man critical electricity stations and water supply sources,” the communication by Langer to the army said.
The divisional commissioner, Jammu, earlier during the day held a meeting with the representatives of the employees which failed to make any major headway.
{{/usCountry}}The divisional commissioner, Jammu, earlier during the day held a meeting with the representatives of the employees which failed to make any major headway.
{{/usCountry}}The government requested the employee leaders to call off the strike after the meeting.
“The Government of J&K, taking a sympathetic view of the issues raised, has engaged in several rounds of talks with Coordination Committee of the Power Employees. The government has already agreed on two of their major demands -putting on hold the proposal for formation of the joint venture and ensuring delay in salary is immediately resolved,” said the official twitter handle of department of information and public relations, Government of Jammu & Kashmir.
It said during each round of talks, the government representatives have appealed to the power employees to call off their strike as people in both Jammu and Kashmir divisions are suffering. “In the wake of Covid contagion and nail-biting cold in both the divisions, the Coordination Committee of the Power Employees is requested to end its strike,” it said.
All J&K Power Employees and Engineers Coordination Committee (JKPECC) leader Majid Munshi’s phone was switched off. Another leader of the committee, Sachin Tickoo told the media that they were opposing the systematic transfer of assets. “They are selling the assets of the transmission sector. They want to give 50% shareholding to the power grid which is against the interests of Jammu and Kashmir,” he told a news channel.
The strike has plunged large swathes of the union territory into darkness amid the chilling temperatures as the employees refuse to rectify any faults.
Political parties have criticised the J&K administration for its “incompetence” and inconvenience people have been facing.
Peoples Conference general secretary Imran Reza Ansari said: “The strike of power sector employees has exposed the incompetence and callousness of current administration. On one hand livelihood of thousands of power sector employees is at stake, on the hand the survival of millions of citizens of J&K.”
“The army has been called to operate the power infrastructure in the Jammu division of J&K. There is no bigger admission of failure for a civilian administration than to call upon the army. It means a total breakdown of governance has been accepted by the J&K government,” said Omar Abdullah, J&K former chief minister.