Jammu and Kashmir Power Employees and Engineers Coordination Committee (JKPEECC) on Wednesday held multiple rounds of talks  to end the stalemate but Managing Director remained adamant on his ‘illegitimate’ suspensions and decision to withhold salaries on account of Surya Ghar performances.

JKPEECC, as per a statement issued, put a Strong resentment Before  Managing Director over his Order No’s. 187-192 of MD/JPDCL of 2026 dated 06.08.2026 placing officers/officials under suspension despite the factual record demonstrates action taken against defaulters and does not disclose any misconduct on part of the employees.

The JKPEECC in a strong words condemned the arbitrary and illegitimate action on part of Managing Director JPDCL to suspend the officers/officials of Power Development Department and justifying it through concealment of important Action Taken record before the Higher authorities.

Due to the failure of MD JPDCL to address the legitimate issues, the J&K Power Employees and Engineers have been constrained to sit on protest from 13th AUG 2026 till the matter is resolved, and responsibility of such situation shall purely be of the management of JPDCL.

The act of the Managing Director suffers from malice and without any technical report on fixing of responsibility for an act of an electricity user who is an habitual offender as per the ground reports of the inspecting agencies that have inspected such areas from time to time. In fact without perusing the available record in totality, Engineers and officials have been made scape goats. JKPEECC demands immediate revocation of the suspension orders on the basis of the Action taken reports submitted by the concerned Chief Engineer Distribution and Superintending Engineer O&M Circle-I in the instant case vide Chief Engineer &  Superintending Engineer, O&M Circle, JPDCL, Jammu letter No. SE-J/O&M/4062-64 dated 25.06.2026 & 3/07/2026 and 19.07.2026.However it is astonishing to note that Managing Director chooses to conceal this important action taken report submitted by the Technical heads of the Hierarchy and push for a case , that is totally unwarranted.

The fact remains that The record supplied to JKEEGA demonstrates that the matter was not ignored by the field establishment.

The communications reveal action at several levels even before the inspections by the Special Enforcement Team, intimation to register FIR against same list of consumers of that area has been on record since 2024, detection of unauthorised use/theft, assessment and imposition of penalties, disconnection of unauthorised supplies, removal of illegal service connections, recovery proceedings, repeated enforcement drives, requests for registration of FIRs, interaction with Police authorities, joint inspections with Police, transfer of the concerned Meter Reader, directions for intensified inspections, strengthening of post-disconnection monitoring; and action against habitual offenders.

Therefore, the basic premise that recurrence of theft necessarily demonstrates failure of the Engineers/officials is not borne out by the record. Further the situation is so grim that nearly 30000 smart meters in JPDCL are damaged or non-communicating resulting in lack of proper billing of such consumers, including the fact that due to non-replacement of such smart meters by the Project implementing agency i.e REC and its contractors Techno, Anvil and Genus, in proportion to the damage rate, has resulted in a big chaos for the billing engineers of JPDCL. The bills as per the JERC , for damaged meter can be assessed for three months only on average demand/usage charge basis. However worthy Managing Director has not been able to prevail on these central agencies to replace the meters and there are damaged meters of 2023 which are also not replaced as on date, leading to the meters having been bypassed for supplying power to consumers by REC/its contractors only. The responsibility needs to be fixed of REC/ GENUS/ANVIL/TECHNO for causing loss of revenue to JPDCL which is also reflecting poorly on our performance. JKPEECC seeks immediate accountability for the damaged/non communicating 25000 smart meters Secondly Immediate action be taken for registration of FIRs in all pending cases of electricity theft where the requisite cases have already been submitted by the concerned SDOs to the respective Police Stations/SHOs. The Association understands that approximately 2,000 such cases are awaiting registration.

If Engineers and officials are being held accountable for theft, the statutory enforcement mechanism must simultaneously be made functional. Further despite hard work, for reducing AT&C losses in JAMMU region to below 30%, instead of accolades, suspension orders are being issued against our officers and officials.

The Salary of Engineers and officials in various divisions/sub divisions of JPDCL has been withheld since last two months on account of not being able to meet the targets set by JPDCL for solar installations.

In an emergency General Council meeting of JKEEGA and other Unions of JKPDD post the failure of meeting held with MD JPDCL on the issues,  it was decided that sufficient time was given  to the Managing Director JPDCL to withdraw the Suspension orders on immediate basis, register FIR against the habitual offenders involved in Electricity theft cases on basis of  such complaint letters written by SDOs to SHOs, take penal action against the Smart metering project implementing agencies for their failure to replace the damaged smart meters for period even exceeding twenty four months, frame and officially circulate SOPs for the registration of FIRs by the police authorities on the reports of theft submitted to them by SDOs and circulate SOPs for the instructions on billing of such consumers who continue to run the power through damaged meters bypassing the meters, due to non-replacement within three months of such damage.

Further the salary of all officers/officials withheld on account of relatively lesser progress in SOLAR Ghar scheme must be immediately released. Due to failure of MD JPDCL to address the legitimate issues, the J&K Power Employees and Engineers have been  constrained to sit on protest from 13th AUG 2026, till the matter is resolved and responsibility of such situation shall purely be of the management of JPDCL.

JKPEECC has appealed to the Chief Minister and worthy Financial Commissioner (ACS) JKPDD for kind intervention in the matter so that the issue projected is resolved without further loss of precious time.

Jammu, Aug 12: With orange alert in place for isolated heavy rains, thunder storms, lightning and gusty winds for the entire Jammu region, with the possibilities of landslides, shooting stones and flash floods at vulnerable places on August 13 and 14, the Met department has anticipated similar brief spell on August 16 and 17.

The possibility of intense localised downpours and isolated cloudburst events in higher reaches and vulnerable areas cannot be ruled out.

Earlier during the past 24 hours, the region, as per Met department, witnessed the significant yet isolated spells, with Poonch recording 53 mm of rainfall and Rajouri 44 mm of rainfall besides light to moderate showers at many places.

From August 15, the weatherman has predicted light to moderate rain and thunder shower at many places with brief intense showers at few places towards early morning, morning and late afternoon or evening hours.

Few spells of light to moderate rain or thunder shower will be witnessed at many places with heavy rain or brief intense heavy showers at a few districts during early morning and afternoon hours from August 16 to 19. Torrential rain or brief intense heavy showers may generate flash floods, landslides or mudslides.

From August 20-22, light rain and thunder showers have been anticipated at scattered places.

The maximum temperature in Jammu is likely to swing between 31 to 35 degrees Celsius, amid hot and humid weather conditions.

Meanwhile, three days after the mishap, the body of one of the two youth drowned in Chenab river in Akhnoor area of Jammu district was fished out on Wednesday.

“The body of Gajay Singh, 30, son of Vijay Singh, resident of Khour was retrieved near Hamirpur Siddhad village, close to the Line of Control in Akhnoor,” the officials said.

However, the NDRF and SDRF teams continued extensive searches for Rakesh Singh, 35, son of Balwan Singh, resident of Khour in Akhnoor.

Both the youth had gone to take a bath in the river when the mishap occurred on Sunday. The Police had recovered their motorcycle, bearing the registration number JK02BP-1567, mobiles and clothes lying on the river banks.

Jammu, Aug 12: The railway board on Wednesday approved the extension of the Sabarmati-Jammu Tawi Express till Katra, a move aimed at facilitating pilgrims and passengers travelling from western India, officials said.

The train will run via Jammu and halt at Shaheed Captain Tushar Mahajan station in Udhampur before reaching Shri Mata Vaishno Devi railway station at Katra, according to the Northern Railway’s Jammu division.

The extension is expected to benefit thousands of passengers from Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab and other parts of western India, who currently have to deboard at Jammu Tawi and take buses or other modes of transport to reach Katra, they added.

With the extended service, passengers will not have to change trains or make separate arrangements for onward travel to Katra, reducing travel time and additional expenses, they said.

The commencement date of the extended service will be notified separately after finalisation.

Passengers have been advised to check the IRCTC website, mobile application or station enquiry counters for reservation and the latest status of the train.

The Jammu division officials said the extension would further facilitate religious tourism and provide more convenient rail connectivity to the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi shrine.

Jammu, Aug 12: A joint anti-fidayeen security mock drill was conducted at the base camp of Mata Vaishno Devi cave shrine in Katra on Wednesday to assess the preparedness and coordination of security and emergency response agencies ahead of the Independence Day celebrations, officials said.

The exercise was supervised by the SP and jointly conducted by Reasi district police with the Special Operations Group, CRPF and the Army medium regiment, with participation from health services and fire and emergency services, they said.

The drill simulated a terror-related security contingency at the venue and assessed the response of various agencies, including immediate mobilisation, cordoning and sanitisation of the area, neutralisation of the simulated threat, evacuation of civilians, casualty management and fire and emergency response, they added.

The exercise also tested the effectiveness of established standard operating procedures, communication channels and rapid response mechanisms, while identifying areas requiring further improvement, police said.

The drill focused on strengthening inter-agency coordination, communication, operational synergy and swift decision-making to ensure a coordinated response to any unforeseen security challenge during the Independence Day celebrations.

The Reasi district police reiterated its commitment to ensuring foolproof security arrangements, public safety and the peaceful conduct of Independence Day celebrations across the district.