Vaishno Devi ropeway row: Two detained in fresh protest, FIR against 8

Katra/Jammu: Two representatives of labourers and shopkeepers in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi district were on Wednesday detained after fresh protests at the Katra base camp against a proposed ropeway project along the trek route to the Vaishno Devi shrine.

Bhupinder Singh and Sohan Chand were released after an hour-long detention by the police. Jammu and Kashmir Congress members, who met the divisional commissioner in support of the protesting shopkeepers, reached out to them in Katra to extend their support.

According to police, an FIR was registered against eight people on Tuesday, a day after violent protests in Katra in which a policeman got injured. Protestors, led by Singh and Chand, took out a rally against the proposed ropeway project.

However, officials said the police stopped the protestors from moving ahead, resulting in clashes between them. Singh and Chand were detained and taken away from the spot in a police vehicle, they said, adding that the protestors were also dispersed from the scene.

Udhampur DIG (Reasi range) Rayees Bhat said the detainees were not arrested. The two men were released from the police station in Katra after an hour.

After the release, Singh said, “We called off the agitation following the intervention of the administration, which requested time to hold talks to resolve the grievances. We gave them time, but over the past two days, there have been arrests by the police.

Several youths were detained.” “During the protests, police questioned us as to why we are taking out the rally when time has been given until December 15,” he said. “We clarified to them that we were approaching the police to understand why people were being arrested and why they were in the process of identifying them. The police can take any action against those involved in the violence. We will not support such actions,” Singh said. He said that the police and CRPF are our own people.