{"id":166506,"date":"2025-01-30T09:00:44","date_gmt":"2025-01-30T04:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/?p=166506"},"modified":"2025-01-30T09:00:44","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T04:00:44","slug":"protests-in-budgam-over-smart-meters-amid-escalating-economic-hardships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/2025\/01\/30\/protests-in-budgam-over-smart-meters-amid-escalating-economic-hardships.html","title":{"rendered":"Protests in Budgam over smart meters amid escalating economic hardships"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-166507\" src=\"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/images-7-4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"481\" height=\"320\" \/>Srinagar: Residents of several villages in Budgam district in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir have risen in protest against the installation of smart electricity meters. The move, they say, reflects the administration\u2019s indifference to the financial struggles faced by ordinary Kashmiris.<\/p>\n<p>According to Kashmir Media Service, one of the major demonstrations took place in Chek-i-Kawoosa village, where a large number of women blocked the road raising slogans against the move. Protestors demanded an immediate rollback of the new metering system, citing fears of skyrocketing electricity bills that would deepen the financial strain on already struggling households.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe can barely afford basic needs, and now these smart meters will make life unbearable,\u201d said a protesting woman. \u201cThe authorities seem blind to the hardships of the poor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Residents said that officials were prioritizing policies that hurt low-income families instead of addressing their economic challenges. \u201cThis is yet another example of a policy completely divorced from the realities on the ground,\u201d said a local elder. deeming the initiative as unjust and disconnected from ground realities.<\/p>\n<p>The protests underscore growing resentment among the Kashmiris, who see such measures as further evidence of the IIOJK administration\u2019s apathy towards their hardships.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Srinagar: Residents of several villages in Budgam district in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir have risen in protest against the installation of smart electricity meters. The move, they say, reflects the administration\u2019s indifference to the financial struggles faced by ordinary Kashmiris. According to Kashmir Media Service, one of the major demonstrations took place in &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":166507,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-166506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-protests-activities","tag-top-story"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/assests\/2025\/01\/images-7-4.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}