J&K admin seeks army's help as power employees’ strike affects essential services

Jammu, Dec 19: The army has been deployed to restore essential services hit by the ongoing strike of electricity department personnel here, officials said Sunday.

They said the deployment was made following a request by the administration.

In a communication addressed to the army, Jammu Divisional Commissioner Raghav Langer said that due to the strike by electricity department personnel, essential services have been severely affected in Jammu region.

"We would like to hereby requisition the Indian army to assist in the restoration of the essential services by provisioning manpower to main critical electricity stations and water supply sources," Langer said.

The army acted swiftly and deployed its troops at main critical electricity stations and water supply sources to restore supply, the officials said.

Several areas of Jammu and Kashmir witnessed electricity outages as linemen to senior engineers begin their indefinite strike on Saturday against the government's privatisation move and failure of two-round talks.

During the night-hours, there was a blackout in nearly 50 per cent of areas across J&K.