Srinagar,CNS,21-Dec;In a major reprieve for Jammu-Kashmir residents, the J&K Power Development Department (PDD) employees called off their indefinite strike late Monday night. With the J&K administration agreeing to all demands of the employees in principle, employees are currently on restoration work with immediate effect. J&K has been experiencing power crisis since the protests began on Friday, amid harsh winter conditions and the Army had been called to help.
Moreover, the J&K Administration will write for de-requisition of the Indian Army as the strike ended. J&K L-G Manoj Sinha assured that 100% power restoration will be done by Tuesday. 20,000 power sector employees had been on strike opposing the merger of Jammu and Kashmir Power Transmission Corporation Limited (JKPTC) into the Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCI).
An official team led by Divisional commissioner Raghav Langar and ADGP Mukesh Singh held fresh talks on the intervening night of Monday-Tuesday with the PDD employee’s association led by its general secretary S Tickoo and gave them a written assurance, sources said.
Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Monday said 60 percent electricity in the Union Territory was restored and the administration will achieve 100 percent restoration by Tuesday.
The LG said talks were held with the striking employees and as of Monday no dues and salary were pending on part of the government.
“We restored 60 percent electricity and by tomorrow we will achieve 100 restoration,” Sinha said on the sidelines of a function here on Monday.
“I do not want to name them, but 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. This only shows our commitment,” he said.
Jammu University has postponed offline and online examination for undergraduate and postgraduate students on Tuesday in view of the strike.
The PDD employees held anti-government protests in Srinagar and Jammu demanding in writing from the Lieutenant Governor an assurance that it has shelved the proposal of merger.
According to the sources, while the administration parleyed with the employees, it also visited several power distribution facilities in Jammu to speed up the restoration of the electricity supply.
Since Friday, the JKPTC employees have been on strike seeking fulfillment of their various demands, with the principal demand being shelving of the JKPTC-PGCI joint venture. Talks between J&K admin and the union has failed after the protestors presented a four-point formula to the government – non-fulfilment of the recommendations of the unbundling report, failure to create positions as mandated by the committee at gazetted and non-gazetted levels, regularisation of daily wagers and all power development department engineers. J&K admin and Centre have been adamant that ‘Power sector reforms are inevitable’ as protestors refused to call off the indefinite strike.
But the strike has been ended by the employees finally and has begun to restore the electricity.(CNS)
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