SRINAGAR, Oct 20: J&K Peoples Conference president and Handwara MLA Sajad Lone on Tuesday criticised the Omar Abdullah government over the smart metering drive in Jammu and Kashmir, calling the cable policy “a shocker of a gift for the people of J&K, especially the poorer sections of society.”
Lone said smart metering is in process and that the company issues a cable of “not more than 4 meters” for each household, two meters for input and two for output.
“Anything more than 4 meters has to be paid for by the household. Otherwise the household will not get electricity connection. And will be disconnected from the grid,” he said in a statement.
Spelling out the consequence, Lone said “the farther the house is from an electric pole the more number of meters of cable is needed.” Poor households, he said, “have been forced to cough up anything between Rs 4000 to Rs 5000 to get smart meter installed.”
Turning to the politics of it, Lone said the government had secured “a windfall in terms of votes” by promising 200 units of free electricity. “Two years have passed and not a single unit given free,” he said.
He recalled that smart metering is “subjected to derision and sarcasm and anger by CM sahib, during the election campaign,” and noted that “now those who queued up to vote have to pay to get the smart meter installed.”
“That actually is a great joke. And the joke is yet again, on those who voted for CM sahib,” Lone said.
