Will restore 100% power, says J&K Lt Guv

NT Correspondent

Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Monday admitted that people in the Union Ter¬orirrty are facing hardships due to the strike by the power department employees and said that by Tuesday, there will be 100% power restoration.

Major power outages are being witnessed in several parts of Jammu and Kashmir as thousands of employees of the Power Development Department have gone on indefinite strike. Divisional Commissioner Jammu on Sunday roped in the army in order to restore essential services in the Jammu region.

On Monday, J&K’s Lt Governor Manoj Sinha said the well-being of each and every citizen “is our top priority” and that talks have been held with those who were on strike and “as on date no dues/salary are pending on part of the government.”

“I want to tell 1.25 crore citizens of Jammu and Kashmir that I understand your pain caused by the disruption in electricity supply due to strike by the power department employees,” said Sinha who was talking on the electricity scenario in the UT on the side-lines of a function at Convention Centre in Jammu.

“Some people have criticized that the army has been called to restore electricity. Personnel from REC, NTPC NHPC, and officers from the army engineering corps have also come,” he said, “This only shows our commitment that we restored 60% electricity yesterday and by tomorrow we will achieve 100% restoration.” Stating that many generations of J&K have spent their life dreaming about getting uninterrupted 24 hours supply of electricity, Sinha said the people who were at the helm of affairs for many decades did nothing. He also maintained that “If some people think that the system will work as per their whims and fancies, it cannot be allowed.”

“The system will work for 1.25 crore citizens without any discrimination. Every step of the UT administration is meant for the betterment of 1.25 crore citizens of Jammu and Kashmir,” said the LG, adding that there can be no compromise on the issue of ensuring access to the basic amenities to our people. The protesting employees in the union territory have four demands including calling off a proposed joint venture between the Jammu and Kashmir Power Transmission Corporation Limited and the Power Grid Corporation of India Limited and also regularisation of daily wagers.

The employees that started their strike on Friday midnight have announced that they will not carry out any repair work in any parts of the UT until their demands are met. At least 20,000 employees are part of the protests.