Power crisis rocks J-K Assembly, opposition stages walkout

Jammu and Kashmir Assembly was today rocked by the protests from Opposition over alleged power crisis and unscheduled power cuts in Kashmir and Ladakh regions and later staged a walkout from the House over government's "unsatisfactory" reply.

Ali Mohammad Sagar of National Conference (NC) raised the issue of alleged power crisis during the extreme winter conditions in Kashmir Valley and alleged that the government has failed to provide uninterrupted power supply.

He was joined by Congress Legislative Party leader Nawang Rigzin Jora and hit out at the government for failing to gear up its administration to deal with the situation.
 

All the Opposition members stood up from their seats and protested over the issue and maintained that government has "failed" to provide uninterrupted power supply to the people of Kashmir and Ladakh regions in this season of extreme winter conditions.

Intervening the matter, Minister of State for Power, Syed Farooq Ahmed Andrabi said there are power cuts and it is due to a large gap between the demand and the supply of power.

The Opposition members then resorted to uproar and noisy scenes protesting against the "unsatisfactory" reply and walked to the entry of the Well of the House.

However, Parliamentary Affairs minister Abdul Rehman Veeri intervened by saying the concern of these members is genuine and administration has been directed to look into the problems of unscheduled power cuts.

Expressing dissatisfaction with the government's reply , opposition members staged a walkout from the House.

Later Jora told reporters that the government was "ill-prepared" to deal with the situation following heavy snowfall which has created more problems for the people due to unscheduled power cuts in Ladakh and Kashmir regions.

They have "totally failed" to provide uninterrupted power supply to the people in the said regions in these extreme cold conditions, he said, adding the government should ensure uninterrupted power supply to the people.