“Unemployment, Taxes, Smart Meters – The Crisis in Jammu Fuelled by Incapability of BJP Govt.”: Sawhney

The Congress party held a meeting at Ward No. 3, Jammu East with the local residents to discuss their issues and concerns. Former Minister J&K and senior Congress leader Yogesh Sawhney addressed the public meeting, which had been organised by Congress Ward President, Ward 3 Sahil Dogra. The locals raised many issues centering price rise, power tariffs, smart meters among other issues and apprised the Congress leaders of the current situation. They expressed that they have been struggling under the pressure of such high prices, and now smart meters have added to their plight because of the exorbitantly high prices.

Along with Former Minister Yogesh Sawhney, prominent leaders including Pawan Dev Singh, Sushant Sharma, Kaka Pardan, Ram Magotra, Surinder Dogra, Akhara Purmukh, Ramesh Sharma, Rohit Gupta, Vankul Sharma, Anmol Kohli, Rishab Kohli, Amir Suhail, Manohar Joshi, Tarun Mehra, Vishal Mehra, Manjeet Singh, Shubham Dogra, Rakesh Kumar, Arif Malik, lucky Rahul Kalsi, Mohit Kumar and others attended the meeting.

Addressing the gathering, former Minister J&K Yogesh Sawhney I/C District President Jammu (U) stated that the Congress party recognises the various issues troubling the people of Jammu today and is looking forward to electoral opportunity to bring justice to the people. There is zero development in Jammu city, whether it’s in terms of infrastructure, facilities, basic amenities and the plight has been amplified with decisions such as smart meters, taxes etc. People have complained, Sawhney said, that in cases where smart meters have been installed, they have seen unusually high bills in the subsequent months. The steep jump in electricity bills post installation of smart meters is a matter of serious concern. The problem with pre-paid meters further is that power connections are being abruptly cut off, sometimes, in the middle of the night, for non-payment of bills. The people who are already struggling to cope financially cannot afford this kind of system. This is the reason, we oppose the deployment of these smart meters.

The residents, Sawney said, further also raised the issue unemployment as one of their major concerns. The youth is feeling helpless, people expressed, and there are no job opportunities. Sawhney stated that employment rates have plummetted down to an all-time low. Young capable people have no jobs, stable sources of income and security of future. This is very serious considering the high-price society created by the BJP government. There are no recruitment drives; while the BJP government tries to whitewash the truth and forces the nation into believing that situation is improving here, all efforts are merely on paper, Sawhney said. The crisis in Jammu is fuelled by political incapability of the BJP controlled administration and BJP govt at the Center, economic issues, and lack of educational and industrial infrastructure due to lack of efforts in that direction, he stated.

Sahil Dogra, Ward President, Ward no. 3 said that people are eagerly waiting for elections and desperately wish for an elected government, so that they have representation in decision making. There is a long list of issues that need to be addressed, whether it is some local issues such as taxes, smart meters or pan India issues like unemployment and inflation. People are struggling with these problems and the only hope they have right now is to get an elected government soon so that they can get a say, he added.