Naidkhai residents protest against PDD, block Sopore-Sumbal road
Bandipora, Jan 17: Residents of Naidkhai in the Sumbal Sonawari division of north Kashmir's Bandipora district on Friday staged a protest against the Power Development Department (PDD) accusing it of failing to repair a damaged transformer for over a month.
The anguished residents of Manzpora village in the area said they have been constantly reeling under darkness for over a month.
The villagers then blocked the Sopore-Sumbal road, disrupting traffic movement for several hours in an effort to get the attention of the authorities.
Residents of the area expressed anguish while speaking to the media persons. "It has been over a month since the transformer in our area developed a fault, leaving us in darkness," said a local resident.
The residents added that despite repeated requests to the concerned department to repair the transformer, their pleas had fallen on deaf ears.
"No one was bothering to resolve our genuine issue, leaving us high and dry amid cold weather conditions," said another resident.
They demanded a permanent resolution to the issue, stating that the transformer regularly develops snags for almost three to four years," leaving them without electricity for days at times.
"Everytime department seems to mock our demands and send us the same or faulty transformers which develop snags over and again soon after they are installed," Mansoor Ahmad Lone, a local resident said.
Taking a dig at the authorities, the locals said the issue persisted "even when we pay our electricity fees regularly."
"The department has miserably failed to provide us with an uninterrupted power supply," the protestors added.
"It is frustrating to witness long power cuts even when big promises are made about regular power supply," said Lone, who is a college student added. He said the power cuts have frustrated both young and elderly including women and children, adding the power department was quite sloppy in addressing this issue." The locals demanded fresh and high capacity transformer to resolve the issue of around forty-five households.
The protesters later dispersed off peacefully after police intervention and assurances from the authorities that their grievances would be resolved on a priority basis.
