Ganderbal, Jan 16: Residents of Duderhama in this central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district on Monday staged a protest against the installation of power meters in the area.
Dozens of women assembled at Duderhama road and halted traffic movement. They raised slogans against the Power Development Department (PDD) for installing power meters in the area.
“It has become difficult to earn living these days and now they want to put an extra burden on us by installing these power meters,” one of the protesters said.
“We are poor and cannot afford bills generated by these power meters. Only lower middle-class people reside in this area. The government must rethink before putting one more burden on us,” she said.
Another protester said, “Our children are jobless. How can they pay hefty bills? We won’t allow installation of these meters.”
Assistant Executive Engineer PDD Sanjay Wakhlu said people have misconceptions regarding meters that these would generate hefty bills.
“Meters are not being installed in Kashmir only. It is in Jammu too. We are trying our best to make people understand but they are adamant with their obstinacy,” Wakhlu said.
The officer said meters will give additional facilities and the power supply will also be better. “The PDD doesn’t have any issue if the government wants to remove power meters. We are just doing our job.”
The traffic on the road blocked by the protesters was later restored after the intervention of Naib Tehsildar, police and AEE PDD.
