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| North Kashmir towns fast turning into slums | | | S. Tahir-Ul Haq
Early Times Report
BANDIPORA, Feb 14: The standard of living in Jammu and Kashmir may have improved but thousands of people in Bandipora district and Sopore town here in North Kashmir continue to live in slums. People says if government couldn't control it, the day is not far when Kashmir will be known as, "Hub of Slums".
The lanes are narrow and the houses are nothing but a single room tenement without the facilities of an open courtyard or an enclosure, thus depriving the people of natural gifts like stream water, forests and other abundant natural resources.
Sources told early times that, various people from outside the state are living in slums or slum like conditions in various parts of Bandipora district and Sopore town of Baramulla district.
These slums are quite congested, as they are over populated. The conditions of the slum areas in many areas have deteriorated to such an extent due to the high density of population that the people there hardly enjoy even the basic amenities, sources informed.
In many areas like Watlab in Sopore town and Bangladesh Colony in Bandipora were people use common latrines and water taps. Some of the slum areas do not even have single rooms, they are thick clusters of small, dilapidated mud huts, the roofs and ceilings of which are made of scraps of wood, gunny sacks, metal or some sort of waste material. However sources said that, just take an example of Chankhan Cement Bridge, Mahrajpora, Watlab and other places in Sopore were about 60 percent of the structures have violated the land use either by raising illegal constructions or by conversion of land use. The fringe areas are equally not good from the planning point of view. Even though people from Bihar, Utter Pradesh and West Bengal have occupied lands on lease basis on the banks of river Jhelum and government is unaware about these problems which becomes miserable for the common masses.
Same is the case of Bandipora town, where people from outside the state have taken shelters for different trades, which is better known to them, but it seems that sometimes, 6 to 7 people live, eat and sleep in the same room.
The streets are narrow and the sewage water stagnates in open surface drains, which emit bad smell. The children often play in places where the drains are used as open latrines, sources said.
The concentration of people in areas where the provision of water, sanitation, garbage collection and health care is inadequate creates the conditions where infectious and parasitic diseases thrive and spread. Around half the slum population is suffering from one or more of the diseases associated with inadequate provision of water and sanitation. However, a group of people says that the government\ of Jammu and Kashmir needs to take appropriate measures to improve the standard of living in real sense, otherwise the day is not far when Kashmir will be known as, "Hub of Slums" |
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