Omar Abdullah avers Centre lacks 'political authority' to privatise grid stations in J&K

Against the Government's move to merge the J&K Power Development Department into the Power Grid Corporation of India, former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah said that they may have the constitutional authority, but not the political authority to do so. Taking to his official Twitter handle, Abdullah added that decisions with far-reaching consequences should be left to those who have the political authority, like the elected govt. 

Power supply employees go on indefinite strike in J&K

The statement comes after thousands of power supply employees launched an indefinite work boycott across Jammu and Kashmir. The employees, from all unions and associations, from linemen to senior engineers, decided to go on an indefinite strike after failure of talks with the government, and staged demonstrations in the twin capital cities besides in district headquarters, a spokesperson of the coordination committee of power supply employees said.

Further, the spokesperson said they had presented a four-point formula to the government, but it failed to accept their demands, including shelving a proposed joint venture between the Jammu and Kashmir Power Transmission Corporation Limited and the Power Grid Corporation of India Limited, a white paper on non-fulfilment of the recommendations of the unbundling report and the failure to create positions as mandated by the committee at gazetted and non-gazetted levels, regularisation of daily wagers and regularisation of all power development department engineers.

"The path of confrontation is being pushed by the government, and unless it comes up with a concrete resolution of the issues, PDD employees shall be forced to proceed on work boycott," he added.