Srinagar: National Conference vice-president and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Sunday said the decision to bring in the army to man electric installation and supplies in Jammu and Kashmir amounted to "a total breakdown of governance" and was an "admission of failure" by the government.
Omar's reaction came after the government failed to reach an amicable agreement with thousands of striking employees of the Power Development Department (PDD) and instead requisitioned the assistance of the army to man electric installations and supplies in the Union Territory.
"The army has been called to operate the power infrastructure in Jammu division of J&K. There is no bigger admission of failure for a civilian administration than to call upon the army, it means a total breakdown of governance has been accepted by the J&K government (sic)," he tweeted late Sunday evening and also shared a picture of army personnel in a grid station office.
Since Saturday, several areas of Jammu and Kashmir, especially the rural belt, have plunged into darkness as the striking employees of the PDD refuse to man duties until the government reverses its decision to privatise the power sector in the UT. The Valley is also seeing one of the coldest winters in recent times with mercury plunging many notches below zero even before the onset of 'Chillai Kalan', the 40-day period of harsh winter in Kashmir that begins December 21 and ends on January 31.
Read: Amid cold wave, outages in J&K as 20,000 power sector staff on strike
After the daylong discussions with the representatives of the striking employees failed to persuade them to return to their duties, the administration on Sunday evening requisitioned the army to man the electric power supply in the Jammu division.
In a letter to the Defence Ministry, Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Raghav Langer wrote: “It is to bring to your kind notice that due to strike by electric department personnel in the UT of J&K, essential services have been severely affected in the Jammu region."
“We would like to hereby requisition the Indian army to assist in the restoration of the said essential services by provisioning manpower to man critical electricity stations and water supply sources.”
Till late Sunday evening, the physical deployment of soldiers to man electricity in the Jammu division had not taken place and the entire region continued to reel under darkness.
