Srinagar: For the third consecutive day on Monday, Power Development Department (PDD) employees in J&K continued to be on strike against the government’s privatisation plans and other decisions, hinting that they are not satisfied with the way their demands are being addressed.
At Bemina, the central place where the protests are being held, hundreds of employees have been gathering for the past three days. On Monday, one of their leaders said, “We don’t have to waste these sacrifices. From the chief engineer to the linemen, we have to stand by the programmes coming from our leadership. This is important for us.”
He said that the employees will not allow the government to make a joint venture which seems to be aimed at showing the PDD staff as incompetent. “Nowhere in India has there been an attempt to make a joint venture for transmission of power supply. This is being done as an experiment in Kashmir,” the leader said.
More than 20,000 employees across J&K are on strike against the government’s plans to make a Joint Venture of JKPTCL with PGCIL. They are demanding that the government issue a white paper on recommendations of the ‘Unbundling report’, create positions as mandated by the committee at Gazetted and Non-Gazetted levels, regularise non-gazetted staff, etc. It has also asked for delinking of salary from Grant in Aid and release of a regular budget for all PDD employees on deputation to different corporations.
“It is after repeated pleas that electricity is being restored, and only when there is a case of emergency,” said one of the PDD engineers among the protestors at Bemina.
Majid Munshi, convener of the Jammu & Kashmir Power Engineers and Employees Coordination Committee (JKPEECC), did not respond to this newspaper’s request for his comments.
Jammu Divisional Commissioner Raghav Langer had written to the Indian Army for assistance on Sunday, as essential services have begun to suffer in absence of electricity. In Kishtwar, the army erected mobile charging points to enable people to charge their phones in absence of electricity.
Many areas plunged into darkness due to the strike amid bone-chilling cold in the Valley. In Bemina, residents held a protest against the power shutdown since Saturday urging the government for its restoration. Late evening, power was restored in the area, locals said.

Junaid Nabi Bazaz