The announcement by Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha about providing 200 units of electricity free of cost to the people has come as a big relief for the people as lately there was a hue and cry in the society over hike in electricity rate and alleged malfunctioning of smart meters generating bills inconsistently. Reportedly, the LG has declared in the UT Assembly that modalities are being worked out for ensuring free power to people. The inconsistent billing by the smart meters was a big issue in recently concluded UT assembly polls with party in power in Centre allegedly facing drubbing in many constituencies across the UT over the same issue.
It is pertinent to mention that the party in power viz. National Conference had promised 200 units of power for free to the people across the region. It is good that the LG has also made it public that his administration is pondering to ensure 200 units of electricity free for the consumers in J&K making the chances of this bounty becoming a reality very soon. There is only one hitch in the entire gamut and that is the stand taken by the BJP leadership in this matter as far as AAP Government in Delhi is concerned, because at times the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has himself termed such schemes as ‘Muft Ki Revdi’ and slammed the political representatives offering such bounties to people. Now in the case of J&K, the promise of free power was made by the NC party in the run up to the Assembly Elections but LG Sinha has come up with a pleasant announcement on the day one of the UT Assembly Session bringing smiles on the faces of stakeholders especially the people belonging to marginalized society. It is immaterial for the people, who has taken the lead to provide the most essential entity of modern times for free but what is to be seen is that this decision should not see any kind of hurdle from any side as PM Modi cannot have two stances for the same issue.
If the free power to Delhi is Muft Ki Revdi then the same principle holds true for J&K, and therefore chances are there that LG might see some instructions in this regard from centre because he is the representative of the Union Government in the UT.
All said and done, the issue should be tackled in the favour of people without going into the conflict that who has sanctioned the free power and also not considering it as Muft Ki Revdi since it is the basic amenity for which the people especially the poor lot are struggling for quite a long in J&K.
