Jammu toll plaza protests hit a nerve, Opp parties join as stir spreads

Starting from Samba, protests now being seen in other plains area of the Jammu division, including over other issues; L-G, BJP step in to assuage public anger

: Yuva Rajput Sabha activists take out a protest demanding removal of Sarore toll plaza on the Jammu-Pathankot National Highway, in Samba district. (PTI)

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IT BEGAN as a protest over collection of toll at a road plaza. But has since spread to other issues, sweeping up the otherwise peaceful plains of the Jammu division, comprising Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts, and propelling to the front a little-known outfit called the J&K Yuva Rajput Sabha.

On Thursday, Congress workers joined the demonstrations, holding a protest outside the Kathua District Jail after its leaders were not allowed to meet around 30 Rajput Sabha leaders, including their president Rajan Singh Happy, who were arrested on Monday night from near the Sarore Toll Plaza in Samba district.

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They had organised a dharna questioning the collection of toll at the plaza and demanding that this be suspended till completion of the road construction work at several places along the national highway.

On Wednesday, Samba saw a shutdown over the arrests, while the protests spread to Kathua and Vijaypur. Eighty kilometres away, Jammu city’s Pir Kho area saw a demonstration Thursday against the administration’s move to install smart electricity meters, which has been seeing sporadic protests for some time, over reports that consumers have been getting inflated power bills since these were installed.

Opposition parties, including the Congress, National Conference, PDP and Aam Aadmi Party have started joining the protests now.

लद्दाख दौरे में आपने मुझे बताया कि आपकी राजनीतिक आवाज दबाई जा रही है। आपके अधिकार आपको नहीं मिल रहे हैं।

आपकी परेशानियों के खिलाफ कांग्रेस पार्टी आपके साथ खड़ी है।

: कारगिल में राहुल गांधी जी pic.twitter.com/GsulI99R53

— J&K Youth Congress (@IYCJammuKashmir) August 25, 2023

On Saturday, the Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the main body of traders and industrialists in the region, has called for a Jammu bandh, over both the toll plaza issue and the installation of smart electricity meters.

With BJP leaders too coming out against the toll plaza in light of the spreading protests, the administration has approached the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), and said a team had been sent to take stock of the road condition. Lt Governor Manoj Sinha told reporters that he had spoken to the NHAI Chairman and told him that the issue being raised by the people was “genuine”.

About the smart meters, Sinha said the government will take a lenient view regarding the poor. “We do not want to do anything which is against the interests of the people, but at the same time, it is a fact that electricity worth Rs 20,000 crore has been supplied to Jammu and Kashmir during the past four years,’’ he said, adding that people must pay for using power.

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What appears to have taken the administration by surprise is the speed at which the protests have spread. Officials fear this is a reflection of the growing restiveness over other recent measures, such as the imposition of property tax and demolition drives, and the general discontent over the absence of employment opportunities, despite the promise of creation of jobs after the abrogation of Article 370.

Incidentally, in May 2014, while the BJP was in opposition in J&K, its senior leader Chander Parkash Ganga had led protesters in dismantling the Sarore Toll Plaza, warning the then Omar Abdullah government of “serious consequences” if it tried to re-establish it.

Eventually, when clearance for the plaza came in October 2019, under the Centre-led President’s rule, the BJP made a U-turn and said toll plazas were necessary for development.

Now, BJP leaders are wavering again. Including Ganga, senior senior leaders Surjeet Singh Slathia, Devinder Kumar Manyal and Y V Sharma issued a joint statement on August 19 demanding suspension of toll collection at Sarore, saying the area didn’t have proper roads. They also said that party MP Jugal Kishore Sharma had written to Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari seeking his immediate intervention in the matter.