A DIFFERENT POWER STRUGGLE

The installation of smart electricity meters in Jammu & Kashmir has become an uphill task for the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha-led administration with public resentment growing against the move, especially in Hindu-dominated Jammu region.

- Moazum Mohammad

A day-long shutdown on August 26 to press for the withdrawal of smart meters was followed by a blockade on September 1-this time for the removal of a toll plaza on the Jammu-Pathankot highway. The protests, led by the region's apex trade body Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), along with civil society groups, lawyers and political parties, disrupted life in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) strongholds of the Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Udhampur and Reasi districts.

These street protests, say observers, have the potential to upset the saffron applecart in J&K, if and when it goes to the polls again. In the last elections held to the then 87-seat state assembly in 2014, the BJP bagged a record 25 seats-all The installation of smart from the Jammu region-with the highest-ever vote share of 23 per cent. The annulment of Article 370 and creation of the two Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh in August 2019 was overwhelmingly welcomed in the Jammu region, further widening its rift with Muslim-majority Kashmir.

But with the reorganisation ushering in reforms in almost all sectors, including power, the region is now seeing unease. "The prepaid smart meters are not acceptable to us," says JCCI president Arun Gupta. "People are getting inflated bills because most meters are running fast and showing excessive readings." The trade body, unsatisfied by the verbal assurances given by the authorities during a meeting on August 8, has sought them "in writing" and could intensify the protests after the festive season.