Jammu and Kashmir Assembly today witnessed noisy scenes as opposition members protested over the power and water crisis in the state.
The members of BJP, Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party and Jammu State Morcha stood up on the benches and resorted to anti-government protests over its failure to provide uninterrupted power and water supply to the people in the state.
Seeking reply from the government about damage to hundreds of transformers in remote and rural areas, huge unscheduled power cuts and water crisis due to failure of power, members of BJP led by Jugal Kishore Sharma, JKNPP MLAs led by Harshdev Singh and lone JSM member Ashwani Kumar trooped into the well of the House.
Sharma, Singh and Kumar highlighted large scale damage of transformers in remote and rural areas and failure of the government to change and repair them, resulting in several problems to the people.
After failure to get a reply from the government and repeated appeals from the Speaker to maintain calm, the protesting MLAs staged a walkout from the House.
Later, speaking to reporters outside the Assembly, Sharma demanded removal of the government for its failure to provide smooth power and water supply, which are basic amenities.
"We have brought to the notice of senior officials of the department, including Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, about the problem of damage of transformers but nothing was done, resulting in sufferings of the people," he said.
Lashing out at the Chief Minister, who is also Power Minister of the state, JKNPP member Harshdev Singh said he has failed to do justice with the power department, which, he claimed, was in a very bad state.
"Huge money has come from the Centre and we sought an explanation from the government where has this money gone which was aimed to better the power infrastructure in the state," he said.
JSM member Ashwani Kumar said, "We urge the government to undertake immediate repair or change of transformers so that people are provided better power supply.
