KL Report
SRINAGAR
Srinagar city that witnessed devastation due to catastrophic floods in September has become the hub of protests and dharnas as hundreds of people from different localities Wednesday came on roads and staged massive protests against the callous attitude of the government towards their miseries.
Eyewitnesses told a local news gathering agency, CNS, that scores of people staged protest at Mehjoor Nagar against alleged official apathy. The protestors alleged that despite the claims made by the government that 352.5 quintals of rice was dispatched in the area, they received only 89.60 quintals of rice.
“We have right to know and we want an answer from the CA&PD department where is the missing rice and who has looted it,” protestors said adding not a single official visited the area to take stock of the situation.
The protestors alleged that lanes and bye-lanes of Mehjoor Nagar are filled with heaps of garbage while Srinagar Municipal Corporation has been taking no measures to lift and dump this garbage at appropriate places.
Similar protests were reported from Qamarabad, Qamarwari, Bemina, Batamaloo, Barzulla, Raj Bagh and Padshahi Bagh.
Eyewitnesses said that residents at Barzulla blocked Srinagar Airport road as they alleged that the area witnesses acute shortage of drinking water.
Amid anti-government slogans the protestors mostly from Jawahar Nagar, Raj Bagh and Ikhraj Pora localities staged a massive protest at Raj Bagh alleging the Omar Abdullah led State Government has failed to provide them respite. “From past 24 days our houses are deep in water while the government has taken no serious initiative in dewatering major chunk of the city,” a protestor told CNS adding that from past 24 days not a single Minister or MLA is visible on the ground.
The residents of Batamaloo burnt tyres on the raods and amid anti-government slogans demanded the supply of potable water, electricity and lifting of heaps of garbage lying on the lanes and bye-lanes of the area.
Similar types of protests were reported from other parts of the city affected by recent floods. Reports said that commuters and pedestrians faced lot of inconvenience due to such protests.
