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| Kupwara craves for potable water, People register protest | | | Syed Tahir Bukhari
KUPWARA, Oct 10: Hundreds of people, including women and children from various villages of Kupwara district in North Kashmir, protested against the shortage of drinking water in their villages as recent floods damaged water pipes at various places, locals blocked the Kupwara-Sopore road near Behama for several hours today.
According to sources, recent floods have damaged various water pipe lines in Kupwara district due to which they are facing acute shortage of water they raised slogans against the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department for its failure to supply them drinking water.
Residents of Behama, Anderhama, Drugmulla, Chayil, Chogal ,Sagergund, and other villages due to absence of drinking water, they were forced to fetch contaminated water for nallah Pohru and other nearby streams for the past one month.
"We have not seen water supply for the past one month. Abdul Razaq Bhat of Behama told early times that, the consumption of contaminated water has led to the outbreak of water-borne diseases like cholera and gastroenteritis in the villages and authorities are watching as mute spectators," he said.
One of the homemaker lady said that, "We have got no toilets, I can't wash my children, can't cook, I can't clean the mess off the floor, And the worst thing is, we have got almost nothing to drink."
"The water crisis has also affected health matters of many people, there is a threat of diseases like cholera and typhoid due to which we avoid to take the water from these nallahs and you see at the moment, it is estimated that many hospitals are occupied by patients who are suffering from water related illnesses she added.
Another protester Ghulam Rasool of Drugmulla said that, "Despite of our repeated pleas, the concerned PHE division is not bothered to address our problems. We will be forced to intensify the protests if the water division does not restore water supply or provide us tanker service without any delay, we will be forced to intensify the protests.
When contacted PHE division Kupwara, a senior official told early times that "The government is aware about the problems of the people, especially drinking water facilities in the rural and far-flung areas of the district, all efforts are being made to address all issues on priority basis and we will soon provide tanker service to these villages.
The scheme had already been taken up at an estimated cost of Rs 6 crore and would cater to the drinking water needs of over 31 villages. He also assured that various water supply schemes would be upgraded to improve their discharge capacity. Special funds would be arranged to upgrade these schemes, he added. |
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