Youth Congress holds protest against privatisation of electricity distribution in J&K

Sumit Hakhoo

Tribune News Service

Jammu, June 4

The Pradesh Youth Congress (PYC), on Thursday, held a protest against the Jammu and Kashmir administration’s order to privatise power distribution and install nearly two lakh smart meters across the region as part to generate revenue.

The protest was led by Youth Congress president Uday Bhanu Chib outside the party office.

Chib said the Congress opposed the privatisation of electricity distribution as it would increase per unit cost of electricity for consumers, affecting poor families at a time when people have already suffered economically due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said thousands of people working in the private sector and business class had lost livelihood and the proposal of the government to bring in private players was not a wise decision.

“Congress has been demanding free power and electricity supply until the lockdown period ends completely. The monthly tariff should also be waived until the pandemic is contained. But the BJP government in New Delhi and the UT administration are following anti-people policies,” said Chib.

The Youth Congress has warned to intensify the agitation if the decision is not taken back by the UT administration.

Chib said it was estimated that about 30,000 employees would be affected by the decision of the government after the re-organisation of erstwhile Power Development Department (PDD) and the effect on economically weaker sections would be huge.  

Meanwhile the power employees’ unions, who are also opposing the privatisation of electricity distribution has decided to approach the traders’ bodies and civil society groups to create a joint platform to office the government’s decision.

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