KL Report

SRINAGAR

Scores of people from different villages of North Kashmir staged protest demonstration and blocked Baramullah-Handwara Highway against power fee hike by the Power Development Department (PDD).

The protesters blocked the highway paralyzing the traffic movement in the area for around three hours. “We used to Pay Rs 150 per month as power tariff. However, this month we have received bill of Rs 545 from PDD. This is gross injustice, “one of the protesters told KNS.

Demanding that the as per meter reading bills should be dispatched, the protesters from Ashipora, Sopur Naghama, Harwet, Kounel and other villages torched the electricity bills dispatched to them by PDD.

“There seems to be complete anarchy in the State. Where would the poor go?” asked a resident of Karlgund Ashipora. The ground situation is that nobody is happy with the present government, he lamented.

The protesters said power supply to the area has been drastically reduced over the past few weeks. “This is a typical scene where power supply has been halved and bills doubled, altogether arbitrarily,” they said.

A contingent of police deployed on the scene did not disperse the protestors and tried to negotiate with them. After some time PDD officials arrived at the scene who tried to pacify protestors. After the assurance by PDD officials protestors dispersed when officials promised them that new revised bills would be dispatched to them soon.

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