KL Desk
Srinagar
Amid protests, clashes and tear gas shelling, south Kashmir’s Pulwama Township observed complete shut down for third consecutive day today in protest against acute shortage of electricity and scarcity of cooking gas in the district.
Protesters poured on various roads leading to the district, holding protests and blocking roads by erecting barricades and burning tyres. Clashes between police and protesters continued for the third day today with many people getting injured as police cane charged and burst smoke shells to disperse the agitated protesters.
The protesters raised anti-government slogans, alleging the state government of meting out step-motherly treatment to the district as an action of ‘political vendetta’.
Protesters also demanded action against policemen, for using excessive force against peaceful demonstrators, in which 4 boys were injured on Saturday, two of them critically. One of the injured hit by a tear gas canister continues to be hospitalized. The protesters were also aghast over the state Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah giving their genuine grievances ‘a cold shoulder’.
However, the Organiser of Pulwama Coordination Committee, G M Malik told local news agency, KNS that their demands have been accepted by the authorities and that they had called off their strike on Saturday. “A transformer at the receiving station has been installed, which was our demand. We also met the CM and he has assured us of supplying a new transformer after the LC elections. There is considerable improvement in the supply of power to the town”, he said.
However, he said the youth of the town continued with the strike as a protest against the police action in which several youth were injured on Saturday.
Meanwhile, while strongly condemning the government apathy and police action against protesting people in Pulwama, Peoples Democratic Party has termed the crisis in South Kashmir as a failure of chief minister Omar Abdullah ‘who visited the district to seek votes but did not heard the grievances of public representatives’.
Sharing the sense of outrage of people of Pulwama district who are on strike for the last three days against power curtailment and non availability of cooking gas, party chief spokesperson Naeem Akhter said the chief minister Omar Abdullah who visited the district showed disrespect to the public sentiment by not listening to their demands for which they are on streets for the last three days. “The government led by national Conference has no time for sufferings of people but its only agenda is how to remain in power,” Akhter observed.
He said that PDP realizes that in absence of any other alternative fuel, LPG is the most essential commodity needed by every household in the state. “Even many households have been out of the cooking gas or they are on the brink of starvation,” he remarked.
