Srinagar, May 9: Several areas of Batamaloo in south City are reeling under darkness for the past three days since they resisted the government’s move to meter the localities.
 Residents of Shallapora, Maharajpora, Tengpora and Gulberg Colony have been staging protests against the Power Development Department over continuous power shutdown since Sunday. The protestors even blocked the Srinagar Muzaffarabad highway for around an hour and were later chased away by police.
 According to reports, the residents of Tengpora Bypass refused to get power meters installed in the area due to which officials turned off their power feeder.
 Later, the locals rushed to power station where they exchanged heated arguments with the officials.
 The officials in retaliation, turned off all the power feeders and locked the station which led to power curtailment to four Mohallas, said a source.
 The locals are aghast claiming that they are being subjected to power cut “for no fault of theirs”.
 “If PDD officials are having disputes with Tengpora residents why have they turned off our power feeders?,” argued a resident from Gulberg Colony, Altaf Ahmad.
 The power curtailment is also affecting the marriage celebrations, said Farooq Ahmad Setha of Shallaopora.
 The locals have appealed the concerned Executive Engineer and the Chief Engineer PDD to look into the matter. 

Lastupdate on : Wed, 9 May 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 9 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 10 May 2012 00:00:00 IST