The residents of Jammu and Kashmir's Nowshera, who had started a march to the winter capital of the state for holding a protest to press for a district status to the town, has suspended their plan on the request of district authorities.
Thousands of Nowshera residents, who have been agitating for nearly a month now, had started a march to Jammu this morning in accordance to their plan to gherao the civil secretariat on Monday in support of their demand, district officials said.
"Jammu chalo march of Nowshera people for ADC (Additional Deputy Commissioner) post halted and returned on our request. Thankful for their faith and confidence," District Development Commissioner of Rajouri Shahid Iqbal Choudhary said in a tweet.
The development came after hours of negotiations between the civil administration and the protesters at Lambari village, around 20 km from the town, where they were stopped by the local administration.
On March 9, the state government announced new posts of ADCs to work on rotational basis in Nowshera, Sunderbani Kalakote and Kortranka areas in an attempt to defuse the crisis.
However, the formula was rejected by the residents of the strike-hit areas. They threatened to intensify the agitation to press for the district status or permanent ADC posts.
People in Nowshera, Kalakote and Sunderbani towns are on an indefinite strike since February 16, after the authorities here announced an additional deputy commissioner post only for Kotranka area.
Meanwhile, BJP state spokesperson Anil Gupta said, "There was no justification in appointing an ADC to be seated at Koteranka, which became a tehsil in 2014 and is a newly created sub-division, neglecting the claim of Nowshera, a tehsil since 1947, which was promised a district status."
He said there must be certain norms that dictate whether a particular area qualifies for establishing the office of ADC.
Arbitrary decisions brew resentment and are against the concept of good governance, Gupta said, adding the anger of the people of Nowshera was justified because they feel cheated.
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