Oppn creates uproar over transfer of power projects

Amir Karim Tantray/Arteev Sharma

Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 27

Pandemonium broke out in both Houses of J&K Legislature today when opposition National Conference and Congress legislators took on the government over the Central government’s refusal to return power projects to the state.

The ruckus forced the Speaker in the Lower House and Chairman in the Upper House to adjourn both Houses several times before adjourning till afternoon.

The protests in both Houses come in the wake of the Union Government citing legal and financial problems to return the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC)-run power projects to the state in a reply to a query raised by Peoples Democratic Party MP Tariq Hameed Karra in the Lok Sabha on March 5.

According to the Agenda of the Alliance, the PDP-BJP coalition had announced that it would explore the modalities for the transfer of the Dulhasti and Uri hydro-power projects to J&K as suggested by the Rangarajan Committee Report and the round table reports.

This U-turn by the government has not gone down well with the opposition parties in the state and they demanded answers from the coalition.

As the Legislative Assembly assembled this morning, NC working president Omar Abdullah demanded an answer from the government over its commitment made in common minimum programme (CMP) over the return of power projects.

With government not being able to satisfy the united Opposition, chaos broke out in the House. Most of the opposition MLAs reached near the well and raised slogans against the government for “deceiving” people of the state on several issues mentioned in the CMP. To get back order in the House, the Speaker initially adjourned the House for 10 minutes but that was not enough as the Opposition continued to protest when the House assembled again. Some protesting MLAs were even marshalled out of the House to restore order in the House.

Speaking to the media, Omar said the coalition government had deceived people of the state by backtracking on several issues mentioned in its CMP. “Be it the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), release of political prisoners, delimitation commission, flood relief package or the NHPC power projects, the Central government has rejected all these proposals of the state government,” Omar said.

Trying to bring down tempers, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Basharat Bukhari said the government was committed to bringing back power projects.

The pandemonium forced the government to pass the grants of three major departments, education, health and medical education and rural development, without any discussion.

In the Upper House, the NC and the Congress members were on their toes and drew the attention of the Chairman, Legislative Council, Amrit Malhotra towards the issue of power projects.

“The government has cheated the people. On the one hand, the state government claims it will take back the power projects from the Centre, and on the other, New Delhi has categorically refused to hand over these projects to Jammu and Kashmir. This duplicity will not be tolerated,” an opposition legislator said.

Amid the din, the protesting legislators trooped into the well of the House and resorted to sloganeering against the BJP-led NDA and the PDP-BJP government in the state.

The PDP and the BJP members also stood up and had a heated exchange of words with opposition MLCs.

As the opposition members continued to create an uproar, the Chairman adjourned the House for 10 minutes at 11.13 am but it resumed its functioning after remaining adjourned for 25 minutes. The Opposition members did not relent and they continued their protest, accusing the ruling coalition government of cheating the people of the state. They again entered the well of the House and staged a sit-in there.

Minister for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Choudhary Zulfikar Ali said the government was ready for a debate on the issue but the Opposition members were refusing to budge from their stance.

Following the noisy scenes, the Chairman again adjourned the House till 12 noon. When the House met again, the members continued their protest, forcing the Chairman to adjourn the House for the day.

Negotiations on with Centre: PDP

Jammu: Countering the Opposition's attack on the issue of transfer of power projects to the state, the PDP on Friday said the modalities were being worked out between the J&K Government and the Centre to get them back even as it accused the previous regime of failing to do anything in this regard. “Now, we are engaged in negotiations (with the Centre) and we are hopeful that progress will start in the direction to get the power projects back,” PDP's chief spokesman and minister Naeem Akhtar told reporters here. “We will never sell the interest of the state. Whatever we say in the common minimum programme, we will do vigorously,” Akhtar said.