Life remained paralysed in Chrar-e-Sharif town of central Kashmir’s Budgam district on Monday due to a shutdown called to protest “unscheduled” power cuts.
All shops, business establishments and educational institutions remained closed in the town while public transport was off the roads.
The strike call was issued by Alamdar traders union, Transport union, Alamdar Wakf board union, Taxi stand association and Sheikh ul Alam Falah-o-Behbood committee.
“We had given a week’s time to the power development department to improve the electricity supply in the town, but so far there has been no action,” said Jan Mohammad, president Alamdar Traders union.
He said they were forced to hit the streets. “Unscheduled power cuts have forced us to take to streets here today. We don’t understand why the area, despite being first model town of the state, is being neglected by the authorities,” he said.
Another member of the traders union, Qadir Bedar said they won’t call off the protest until their issues are not addressed. “The authorities have so far turned a deaf ear to our pleas. We won’t call off the protest until they address our concerns,” he said.
The town, according to the locals, has a separate receiving station which is being fed by the Pampore grid station.
Executive Engineer, Power development department Budgam, Naseerullah Jan, said the issue will be resolved very soon. “Besides the 33 KV line from Pampore grid station, the town will soon get another line from Budgam via Chadoora to overcome the problem of overloading,” he said, adding the project is likely to be completed by 15th April.
Later in the day, a team from the office of deputy commissioner Budgam and sub-district magistrate Chadoora held a meeting with a delegation of locals at tehsil office Chrar-e-sharif. “The officials assured to resolve the issue within a month’s time,” said a businessman, who was part of the delegation.