Excelsior Correspondent
KATHUA, July 10: Hundreds of irate people from Mareen and adjoining villages in Kathua district today staged a protest demonstration and blocked the Jammu- Pathankot National Highway at Rajbagh for one hour this afternoon in protest against the power failure in the area.
The protesters in large numbers shouting slogans against the PDD authorities and Government accused them of present power crisis in the area. They alleged that entire Mareen area is in complete blackout after the transformer developed a snag over last fortnight and the authorities replaced the same with 25 MVA transformer when as per the local load 50 MVA transformer is needed.
They said the 25 MVA transformer could not bear the load and it developed a snag again with the result entire area plunged into darkness again. They said despite the repeated pleas of the people to install 50 MVA transformer in the area, the PDD authorities did not pay any heed to it forcing the people to come to streets today again and block the National Highway.
There was a huge traffic jam up to one kilometer of Highway and the Amarnath and Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrims were also trapped in the traffic jam for a long time. Later the Highway blockade was lifted by the protestors after the DySP Border, Raveel Singh and senior engineers of PDD reached the spot and assured the protesters that they will install new transformer soon. On this assurance people dispersed and traffic was restored on NH.
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