By King RJ
Bhadarwah: Power sector employees including engineers sit on strike and held a protest in Jammu and Kashmir’s additional district Bhadarwah on Saturday against privatization of power distribution and transmission system.
On the call of Jammu and Kashmir Power Employees coordination committtee, the employees of Bhadarwah organised protest demonstrations in JKPDCL (earlier known as Power Development Department) Sub Divisional Office Bhadarwah under the chairmanship of AEE JPDCL Sub Division Bhadarwah K.C.Raina.
While raising slogans against privatization, the employees said that the government is hell-bent on creating private monopolies in the power sector by putting the future of employees on stake.
The employees demanded to withdraw the process of privatization of electricity from the public sector to a private company and cancel all existing privatization and franchises in the power sector.
They said we are not against reforms in power sector but stand should be cleared by the Government on the future of employees.
While coming in support of JPDCL employees, civil society also joined the strike. Advocate Majid Malik opposes the proposed privatization and transfer of public assets to the private sector as this will result in a high tariff for the consumers and will become defunct. Those who addressed the employees includes Saleem Ahmed Tak, Sheikh Sair Hussain, Arif Butt, Nixon Kashyap, Vikas Kotwal, Mubina Kousar, Gulshan Ara and others.
