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Srinagar, May 8 : The tussle between Srinagar outskirt locals and the Power Development Department over the installation of smart meters has put the lives of at least 4 patients to risk.
Pertinently, an elderly man Muhammad Aslam Mir of Mir Mohalla Onta Bhawan Soura area of Srinagar outskirts as per the locals died due to lack of Oxygen supply after the PDD men snapped the power supply of the area in the middle of the night.
Mir was on oxygen concentrator support and lost his life after the PDD snapped electricity in the locality for opposing the installation of smart meters.
A day after the death of the man, locals told news agency Kashmir News Trust that 4 patients in the locality are also on the Oxygen concentrator support and one of them, a lady is critical.
“The irony is that even after this tragedy, PDD didn’t bother to restore the power supply,” one of the locals Ghulam Nabi Mir said and accused PDD officials of resorting to oppressive and unethical means to suppress and force the people to get the smart meters installed.
The locals said that their only fault is that they staged a protest against the installation of meters at Ilahi Bagh Chowk. “The PDD employees first instigated us to protest and then the same employees cut the power line in the middle of the night, even not bothering about the ailing patients for whom power supply is a life-line,” they said and reiterated that they won’t allow installation of smart meters as they can’t afford to pay fatty power bills.
They said the locality is reeling under darkness for the last 5 days and the lives of ailing patients who are on Oxygen concentrator support are at risk.
“We will never forget this inhuman approach of Power Development Department officials,” they said.
