Reasi/Jammu: Several people were detained by police during a protest in Katra, the base camp of the Mata Vaishno Devi temple in Jammu and Kashmir, as demands to shelve the proposed ropeway project intensified with the town observing a 72-hour shutdown from Wednesday.
The Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Sangarsh Samiti called for the bandh and said that all activities in Katra would remain suspended during the protest.
Scores of people led by Samiti leaders Bhupinder Singh and Sohan Chand took out a protest march in the town, raising slogans against the Shrine Board and the administration, accusing them of adopting a stubborn attitude.
However, when police personnel stopped the protesters from advancing, clashes broke out between the two sides.
Several protesters, including Singh and Chand, were detained by the police and taken away in a police vehicle from the protest site, officials said.
Singh alleged that the government was derailing the issue and forcing the people of Katra to come on the roads.
“We are demanding the shelving of this project to save the jobs of thousands of people. Instead of holding talks with us, as promised by the administration, they are using police to detain us. This is unfortunate”, he said.
Former minister Jugal Kishore criticised the “use of force” against the protesters.
“We strongly condemn the administration’s move to use force against peaceful demonstrators. Their actions are aimed at disturbing the situation in Katra, which is unacceptable,” Kishore told reporters.