Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 4: Pradesh Youth Congress today staged protest against the privatization of power and water sectors in Jammu and Kashmir.
Click here to watch video
Led by Uday Bhanu Chib, president PYC J&K, the activists assembled outside the Congress headquarters in Jammu and raised slogans against the BJP led Government at the Centre.
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 off until the pandemic is contained. But the BJP Government in New Delhi and the UT administration are following anti-people policies,” Chib said.
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.
“Such move of the Government not only will allow the private sector to intervene in the department’s functioning but also put the jobs of PDD employees at stake,” he said, adding that Government should take stakeholders in confidence before taking such big decision.
Chib further said that there is no transparency in unbundling the department and the jobs of employees are at stake as there is no detailed transition plan for the employees. He asserted that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused mass disruptions to the nation’s economy, its trade, industry and the lives of citizens. There is no industry or sector of the economy that has been left unaffected by this wave and installation of smart electric meters in this juncture would add to the miseries to the public, Chib maintained.
Senior members Ajaz Choudhary, Ricky Dalotra, Sahil Langeh, Nimrandeep Singh, Latish Sharma, Barinder Partap, Ashwani Choudhary, Diveyansh Jamwal, Neeraj Choudhary, Rahul Tandon, Anirudh and others also accompanied.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
