J&K: Women voters concerned about rising electricity bill amounts

PTI Srinagar: The election campaign of all the major political parties in Jammu and Kashmir revolved around the revocation and restoration of the erstwhile state’s special status but women voters are more worried about the rising electricity bill amounts. An elderly woman, waiting for her turn to vote at a polling station in the heart of Srinagar city on Wednesday told a visiting foreign diplomat that she is concerned about the erratic electricity supply and the rising bill amounts. “The electricity supply has been destroyed and tariff meters have been installed.

Now they say water consumption will also be metered,” the woman in her late 60s told the US Deputy Chief of Mission in Delhi, Jorgan K Andrews. While the woman refused to identify herself, she said she spoke her heart out hoping that the diplomat’s intervention will bring some relief to poor people from the rising electricity bill amounts. Unaware that foreign diplomats were invited here only to witness the Assembly poll process, the woman said she is hopeful that the “Angrez” will take up the matter with the central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The second phase of polling for the three-phased Jammu and Kashmir Assembly election is being conducted on Wednesday. A significant number of women voters queued up before the polling stations here. They were more concerned about basic amenities like electricity, water and foodgrains through the public distribution system. “The monthly electricity bill has risen from Rs 1,400 last year to Rs 2,750 this year. We want to vote for a government that will roll it back,” Haseena Bano, a resident of uptown Baullah area, said.