Power employees have finally called off their strike after J&K L-G Manoj Sinha administration conceded to their demand of putting on hold the move to privatise the power transmission sector — an issue which had become a bone of contention between the two parties.
The deadlock was broken at around 12.10am on Tuesday when the government team led by Jammu divisional commissioner Raghav Langar agreed to the demands of power employees to stall its proposal of merging J&K Power Transmission Corporation Limited (JKPTCL) with Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL). A committee comprising all stakeholders, including representatives of the power employees, will make recommendations on the way forward.
The Sinha administration also agreed to look into the issue of delay of wages, regularisation of the ad-hoc employees and other pay anomalies of the power staffers.
The employees had launched a massive stir across J&K on Friday night over what they called a government move to sell off power assets that had been raised over several decades by successive governments.
For three days, the administration resisted heeding to the striking employees’ plea on going back on the privatisation of power sector, saying “reforms were mandatory”, but the breakthrough came late at night, much to the surprise of the employees and relief of the common people who are in a midst of a punishing winter. The mercury had touched -6 degree Celsius on Sunday and -5.8 C on Monday in Srinagar and even colder in hinterland, making life difficult for people in the Valley after power snapped in some localities.
To offset blackout-like situation across Jammu and Kashmir, the administration had on Sunday night called in the army to restore electricity in Jammu after employees stayed away from work for three days. However, with the strike being called off, the employees have begun to restore electricity. Both the parties at the conclusion of the meeting agreed that all the power feeders would be up by Tuesday evening.
The leaders of the employees had maintained they won’t attend work till government rolls back its privatisation plans that entail handing over the transmission assets like power grids and receiving stations to a private company on joint venture basis.
“The plan is bizarre and unjustified. How can government give assets worth thousands of crores of Jammu and Kashmir to a private company on a platter? This is sheer robbery of resources. It hasn’t happened anywhere in the country. Why is J&K being used as laboratory,” Munshi Majid, general secretary of the power employees body, told News18.
Munshi said the administration had taken the decision without taking the employees, who are stakeholders, in loop. Moreover, no technical study has been carried out and this is for the first time in the country that such a proposal is mooted.
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