Manohar Lal leads protest against power cuts

Former Minister Manohar Lal Sharma alongwith other Billawar residents staging a protest against unscheduled power cuts on Tuesday.
Former Minister Manohar Lal Sharma alongwith other Billawar residents staging a protest against unscheduled power cuts on Tuesday.

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Jan 10: Former Minister Dr Manohar Lal Sharma today led a protest against unscheduled power cuts and irregular water supply in Bilawar Constituency.
He was joined by prominent leaders including Dr Narinder Vaid, Thakur Bhudi Singh, Sham Spolia, Tek Chand, Romesh Verma, Mukesh Kumar, Rajinder Verma and besides other socio-political figures.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Manohar Lal Sharma said that the UT of Jammu and Kashmir in general and Billawar in particular has been facing worst ever power crisis for the past around two months.
“People of Billawar have been facing the brunt of 12-14 hours of unscheduled power cuts during the nail-biting cold. The promise of 24*7 power supply has been dashed to the ground by the LG administration,” Sharma said.
He said the areas where smart meters have been installed, are also facing the worst-ever power crisis.
“The rising public anger against the government is forcing us to take to the streets to lodge our anger with the ruling administration so that people get some sort of relief from the power crisis,” he further said.
Sharma said that due to power outages, water supply has also been hit badly in Jammu and Kashmir particularly in the rural areas.
Meanwhile, the former Minister appealed the Union Government to return the NHPC-owned power projects to Jammu and Kashmir so that the electricity generated through the waters of Kashmir can be provided to the people of the UT only at reasonable rates.