Accusing the Congress party of betraying people of Jammu and Kashmir, Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) on Wednesday said that the Congress Member Parliament sought deferring of petitions in the Supreme Court on Article 370.
“The Congress party stands exposed on Article 370 as its Member of Parliament and Spokesperson Advocate Abhishek Singhvi sought deferring the hearing of petitions in the Supreme Court on August 2,” DPAP Chief Spokesperson Salman Nizami here told reporters at a press conference.
He accused Congress party of betraying people of Jammu and Kashmir by seeking postponement of Article 370 hearing on the pretext of Delhi ordinance.
He added that at the time when the Supreme Court had scheduled the case to hear the voice of people of J&K Congress MP tried to sabotage it.
However, expressing resentment against installation of smart meters, power outages, the DPAP also demanded reduction in power tariffs.
Party Vice-President GM Saroori said that the poor have to bear the brunt of anti-people policies. “It is very unfortunate that the government is imposing troubles on common people. Prices of essential commodities are touching skies, power tariffs are breaking the back of the poor,” he said.
“We have several power projects in J&K having capacity to generate power for other parts of the country. Even we have power projects in Ladakh. The country is getting its power supply from J&K,” he said.
He added that during the establishment of the first phase of DulHasti power project, it was promised that people living within the five kilometers radius of the project would get free power supply. “It was also promised that consumers in J&K would get power units at lower rates than the rest of the country because of having all important power projects in J&K,” he said. He added that besides Kishan Ganga, Chenab valley hosts all other important power projects.
“Due to earthquakes, soil erosion and landslides, the people in Chenab Valley have suffered most.” The monthly power bills have gone up from one thousand rupees to ten thousand which has made the lives of poor people miserable. He said that prolonged unscheduled power cuts are causing people to suffer and these cuts last up to eight to ten hours a day. “We demand that smart meters should not be installed and the rate of power tariffs should be reduced” he said. Speaking on the occasion, DPAP General Secretary RS Chib said that floods have wreaked havoc in various areas of Chenab valley.
He added that floods have damaged the vital bridge in Samba which is yet to be repaired.
He demanded that local people should not be asked for toll tax till the bridge is made functional again as people have to take diversions and cover long distances to reach destinations.
