Aghast over the “non-availability” of road connectivity in their area, the residents of Chela Dhangri village of Poonch’s Mandi staged a demonstration at the tehsil headquarter on Friday.
The protesters assembled on the Poonch Mandi main bridge andblocked it for five hours.
The protest was led by a local social worker, Saira Mir, anda large number of villagers were also present in it.
The irked locals said, “Work on three kilometers of roadstretch from Azmabad to Chela Dhangri stands complete, but the remaining onekilometer has been left hanging since several years. The government is notbothered by our hardships.”
Addressing the protesters, Mir said, “Successive governmentshave failed to provide one of the basic amenities to the local populace. We arestill striving for a road. It is the 21st century and we are protesting for theconstruction of a road.”
Later, Deputy Superintendent of police, Headquarters,Poonch, Executive Engineer of PWD, Tehsildar Mandi and others reached the spotand interacted with protesters.
The officers assured them that the work on the road will beresumed by next week. On this assurance the protest was called off.