Masrat Nabi
Baramulla, July 14: Several areas in North Kashmir from past many weeks have been craving for drinking making life vulnerable for locals.
As per the reports,many areas in North Kashmir districts are facing a shortage of drinking water since last month. The worst affected areas as per the reports facing water dearth are Pattan, Narwah, Warpora, Chankhan, Magham and Drangbal, Hajjin, Sofi-lane Aragam, and other parts of north Kashmir.
The residents are accusing the department of adopting a selective approach in providing drinking water, saying the authorities were giving preferential treatment to certain areas at the cost of deserving ones.
“We are facing immense problems due to acute scarcity of drinking water this summer. Even some areas of north Kashmir have protested against this crisis but it is ironic that the concerned authorities are giving a deaf ear to this grave issue,” said Mumtaza Begum to Kashmir Despatch.
Some influential people are using this water for construction purposes or maintaining their kitchen gardens, “But we don’t get a drop to drink” said Basit Lone a resident of Sheeri village.
Locals of Sopore Warpora said that they are not receiving drinking water supply from last week. We have to go to other localities to fetch water. The Jal Shakti department has completely failed to restore water supply in the area.
The suffered residents said that the department has left them on God’s mercy despite approached the authorities many times and received assurance of getting the regular water supply soon but no step has been taken by them in this matter so far.
A group of Bandipora residents talking with Kashmir Despatch over the phone said that their womenfolk face lot of hardships in fetching water from different spots. Even this summer season we are without drinking water and the concerned authorities don’t pay attention to us.
The locals said that the government should pay attention to us as we have been without drinking water for the last three months and we are facing all kinds of difficulties to find drinking water.
The residents have appealed to the district authorities and Jal-Shakti department to look into the matter so that the normal water supply service can be restored.
Taking with Kashmir Despatch officials at Jal Shakti department in Sopore, Bandipora and Baramula division said we understand there is a water crisis but people are responsible themselves as they are misusing water by using illegal water mortars during night hours.
The officers added people are also irrigating their kitchen, gardens, parks, washing cars, resulting in a water crisis. They said the department is working round the clock to redress the issues of people across the region however it’s also the responsibility of the general public to use water as per need. They said these two months are very crucial in Kashmir as irrigation season is also at peak so water is getting converted into multiple sections due to which in some areas people are facing a crisis. The officer said that the department has also started sending water tanks to the areas where people are facing problems.
