Proposed privatization of power sector of Jammu & Kashmir triggering resistance from within the power development department has ironically drawn no reaction from the mainstream political parties which during the days of the popular rule in the erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir state used to beat drums on the promises of successive central governments over the return of key power projects to Jammu & Kashmir. The powerless mainstream leaders don’t dare to even extend a moral support in the form of routine press statements to the simmering resistance posed by the hapless employees of the power development department and it’s allied wings like Jammu & Kashmir Power Development Corporation to proposed move of the privatization of power sector. Since the power sector is the only potential source of energy, economy and employment generation in Jammu & Kashmir, the attempt to privatise this vital sector of economy would probably be the last blow to the collapsing economy of Jammu & Kashmir and more significantly the move would by all probabilities shut the doors of industrial and infrastructural development both in Kashmir and Jammu regions. Embarking on privatization plans for many limited companies like Air India may be the only option for the central government to keep the certain key public services going but privatization of the power sector of Jammu & Kashmir is not advisable for many reasons.
Right time for all the stakeholders of the power sector and the top mainstream political leaders to resist institutional and administrative pressures from both within and outside Jammu & Kashmir to thwart the attempts of the privatization of power sector for securing the industrial, infrastructural and economic interests of the future generations of Jammu & Kashmir as this key public issue has to do nothing with any institutional, administrative and constitutional measures presently pursued by the central government in Jammu & Kashmir .
The central government has no right what so ever to put on auction assets and resources of power sector on auction without the consent of the key stake holders including power development department and local power infrastructure development companies having participated in the power infrastructure process in Jammu & Kashmir. Power sector if privatized would immediately render thousands of engineers and skilled workers of Jammu and Kashmir jobless and shut the doors of employment and income generation for the future generations of Jammu & Kashmir. The move would also deprive the people of Jammu & Kashmir of the right to get it’s due share of power from it’s own hydropower resources as the private companies of the other parts of country after getting the ownership rights over power projects of Jammu & Kashmir would be at liberty to fix power tariff rates for both the domestic and industrial facilities on their own terms and conditions without hearing even any genuine argument from either the domestic or the commercial power consumers. The transfer of the ownership of the power facilities from the Jammu & Kashmir Government to private companies would also throw up flood gates of employment and income generation opportunities for the people of other parts of the country and not for the bonafide permanent residents of Jammu & Kashmir. Right time for all the stakeholders of the power sector and the top mainstream political leaders to resist institutional and administrative pressures from both within and outside Jammu & Kashmir to thwart the attempts of the privatization of power sector for securing the industrial, infrastructural and economic interests of the future generations of Jammu & Kashmir as this key public issue has to do nothing with any institutional, administrative and constitutional measures presently pursued by the central government in Jammu & Kashmir .