Jammu: As employees of the power development department (PDD) of Jammu and Kashmir went on an indefinite strike since Friday night, army troops were deployed at power stations to accelerate restoration of power supply in parts of the union territory (UT), Hindustan Times reported.
This was after the Divisional Commissioner's letter to Ministry of Defence, the General Officers Commanding of 9 and 16 Corps seeking forces to restore power in the region, The Indian Express (TIE) reported.
More than 20,000 PDD employees, including linesmen and engineers, went on strike against the UT administration's decision to privatise the department's assets, as well as its proposal to merge J&K PDD into the Power Grid Corporation of India.
Both the protesting employees and the administration stay rooted to their stands, which puts the UTs population in peril as the region experiences extremely low temperatures and many covid patients need oxygen concentrators running.
The J&K of the Department of Information and Public Relations tweeted that the government has already agreed to two major demands put forward by the employees, i.e. the proposal for the formation of the joint venture has been put on hold, and the delay in salary will be immediately resolved.
Raghav Langer, Divisional Commissioner in Jammu, said that the government is working to protect the public's interests with commitment and sincerity.
Power outages were also reported in various areas of Kashmir, including Srinagar, TIE reports.
Meanwhile, many political parties had come against the J&K administration, reiterating its incompetence and highlighting the people's suffering. National Conference leader Omar Abdullah tweeted that calling the army to operate the power infrastructure has shown the J&K administrations acceptance of the breakdown of governance, Hindustan Times reports.