The residents of Gaw Kadal area of Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, staged a protest against the anti-people policies of the authorities.
The protestors, mostly women, blocked the Gaw Kadal Bridge to protest against the installation of Smart Meters by the authorities. Many demonstrators said that their electricity supply was cut off after they resisted the move.
“They (authorities) are using these coercive tactics so we may bow down to their decisions. But we question this strategy of the administration. Is this within the ambit of law?” asked a protestor.
This was the fifth protest in the area against installation of Smart Meters. Before this, residents of Basant Bagh protested for two weeks demanding an end to this process. However, the authorities continued to keep their electricity cut for over 12 days. It was restored only after they accepted the installation of Smart Meters.
Meanwhile, a large number of students, parents and members of civil society held a protest and blocked Rajouri-Thannamandi road. They were protesting against the arrest of a teacher, claiming that he was indicted in a false case.
The protesters demanded a high level enquiry into the matter and immediate release of the arrested teacher.
A teacher namely Muhammad Ashraf was ar-rested by the Indian police after some female students made allegations of ‘sexual abuse’.
The students said he is innocent and hasn’t done anything which is being narrated for the last few days. They maintained that some teachers played the role to target him and for that they used female students.—KMS
