Malroo (Bandipora), Apr 2: At least 20 persons, mostly women, were injured when police burst teargas shells and resorted to a cane-charge to disperse demonstrators protesting against frequent and unscheduled power cuts here in north Kashmir on Saturday.
 Witnesses said that hundreds of people, mostly women and children, took to the streets at Malroo this morning and staged a sit-in on Srinagar-Bandipora road. Protesters were raising slogans against the Power Development Department. “We have been facing unscheduled power cuts for past many months,” protesters said.    
 They said an old transformer has been installed in the area which often stops working due to technical snag. During the past fortnight, the transformer was taken to PDD workshop twice and reinstalled only to develop fault again, the agitators alleged.
 Yesterday, the transformer was again taken to the workshop. Protesters demanded that two transformers should be installed to provide trouble-free electricity to consumers who are paying the tariff regularly.
 Following protests traffic on Srinagar-Bandipore came to a grinding halt. Later a huge contingent of police reached on the spot and resorted to baton charge and fired tear smoke canisters to disperse the protesters. “At least 20 persons were injured in the police action,” witnesses added.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 2 Apr 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 2 Apr 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 3 Apr 2011 00:00:00 IST