Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Mar 18: Protesters in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district blocked the National Highway for three hours for Power Development Department’s failure to restore the electricity in dozens of villages.
Around 300 protesters from villages of Medoora, Medoora Check and Shahabad blocked the National Highway at Awantipora in district Pulwama for PDD’s failure to restore the power supply to these areas after the recent snowfall.
These residents first assembled at Medoora and blocked the Awantipora-Tral road to draw attention of the administration towards restoration of power supply. When the protestors failed to draw the attention of the administration they marched towards Awantipora and blocked National Highway.
The highway remained blocked for several hours and the protesters refused to lift the blockade of the highway leading to huge traffic jam.
A protestor Nisar Ahmad told Excelsior that the villages of Medoora, Medoora Check and Shahabad are without power for last 10 days. “Electricity has not restored to these villages since early this month when Kashmir received heavy snowfall”, he said.
Later, Tehsildar and SP Awantipora, Irshad Ahmad, pacified the protesters and assured them that the power to these villages will be restored in two days. The protesters later lifted the blockade of the highway and traffic was restored.
The villagers of Chundpora and Ayan Gund in Pulwama district also blocked the roads leading to the district headquarter as these villages are without electricity for past fortnight. A protester, Maisar Ahmad Seh, told Excelsior that the transformer in these villages developed technical snag two weeks ago. “The PDD officials say that it will take two months to repair the transformers, so we had no option to block the road”, he added.
The residents of Koil, Tengpora, Malangpora and Pinglana also blocked the roads in Pulwama as the PDD has not restored the power to these villages since the snowfall in the first week of March.
The villagers of Shirpora, Rajpora, Nagbal, Fariqabad, Muran Tangwarie, Shumlaran in Kandi area of North Kashmir’s Baramulla district are without electricity since early this month.
A villager, Ghulam Nabi, said that the power was not restored to these villages since early this month when snowfall snapped power lines at few places. “We have brought it to the notice of the PDD officials but so far they have not restored power supply”, he added.
Residents in Usmanabad, Shalteng in Srinagar said that the area is without power supply for past few days. “The transformer of the area developed technical snag and we are without power. In the past we had to wait for several weeks before the transformer was repaired”, said a Nazir Ahmad, a resident of Usmanabad.
Follow our WhatsApp channel