Ishtiyaq Ahmad
Early Times Report
Srinagar, May 5: Amid the holy month of Ramdhan, residents of various parts of Kashmir are experiencing an acute shortage of drinking water.
They have accused the authorities concerned of being indifferent to their problems in this holy month.
“When I opened the tap to perform ablution after Sehri (predawn meals) there was not a drop of water,” Mohammad Sharif, a resident of Habak said.
Before the beginning of the holy month, government had claimed that they would ensure proper electricity and drinking water supply during this month.
“Things have gone from bad to the worse in Ramdhan. We get tap water only for few hours in a day,” said Ashfaq Ahmad, a resident of Shalimar.
He said most of the inhabitants were using water motors during the night hours to get some water.
The worst affected are people from areas including Batpora, Hazratbal, Kashmir University, National Institute of Technology (NIT), Saderbal, Saida Kadal Elahi Bagh, Gulab Bagh, Soura, Anchar, Nowshera, Lal Bazar, Alasteng, Shuhama, Habak, Zukra and various parts of Ganderbal.
These areas would receive water from Malshai Bagh canal. Malshai Bagh canal, which is the main source of water to various treatment plants including Rangil, Alesteng, Hadoora, Shuhama, and Bakoora, caters to over two lakh population in Srinagar and Ganderbal.
The canal developed a breach in the first week of December last year. Since then authorities have failed to fix the breach.
“Most of times, the taps are running dry. We brought into the notice of concerned officials many a days but nobody is paying heed to our repeated pleas.
We have to take turns to store water in tanks and use it for daily chores,” said Ali Mohammad, a resident of Zakoora.
Government had set up February 15 deadline to fix the breach but have failed to do so.
Similar complaints are pouring in from various parts of south and north Kashmir where people said they are forced to fetch water from streams and consume contaminated water.
Meanwhile, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Pandurang K Pole, recently visited breach spot on the Sindh Extension Canal at Malshahibagh, Ganderbal and took stock of ongoing restoration work.
While reviewing the progress of work on the breached spot, he directed the concerned authorities to expedite work on breached spot by way of engaging more men and machinery and exhorted for charging the canal within the shortest possible time.
The Div Com was also informed that portable water is supplied to 15 lakh people of Srinagar district and about 1 lakh souls of Ganderbal district besides several hectares of agricultural land is also dependent on the canal for irrigation.
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