Ejaz-ul-haq Bhat
Bandipora, Feb 28 : Vewan village, located on the foothills of famous Harmukh peak in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district is even without basic facilities like road connectivity, electricity, mobile connectivity, and potable water supply, thereby making villagers suffer immensely.
News agency reported the villagers have been suffering immensely for want of even basic facilities like road connectivity, electricity, potable water supply, health care facility and mobile connectivity.
“Even in the 21st century we don’t have road connectivity and the irony is that we have to traverse through thick forests to reach the village either by foot on horses. We have been deprived of even basic facilities by the successive regimes as no one has even bothered to visit the village in the last 60 years. We don’t have any facility in the village all we have is Almighty’s name,” said Abdul Rashid Bhat, a local resident.
The villagers said that it’s very unfortunate on part of the concerned authorities that they have even failed to construct a road to our village from Athwatoo, a famous tourist spot in Bandipora.
“From Athwatoo we have to walk on foot to reach Vewan and it takes us more than 2 hours from Athwatoo as there is no road connectivity. We have been suffering immensely for want of even basic facilities but nobody pays heed to our sufferings. Even though Athwatoo has been brought on the tourist map but our village which is located only a few kilometers from Athwatoo doesn’t even have road, electricity, potable water supply, mobile connectivity, and health care facility,” they said.
Interestingly, last year work construction of road from Athwatoo to Vewan was started but it was left mid-way for reasons best known to the concerned authorities. The village having around 170 households is dwelled by both Gujjar and the Kashmiri community.
The villagers said that they also don’t have mobile connectivity in the area which has left the village disconnected from the outside world. “We don’t have any information about the outside world as we don’t have mobile connectivity in the village. We would have been connected with the outside world through television but for that, we don’t have electricity. During winters month we totally remain disconnected even with district headquarters because there is no road connectivity,” the villagers said.
They said that the village is even more backward than Gurez valley despite the fact that it is located just 20 kilometers away from district headquarters. “Gurez valley has all the basic facilities even though it is a remote area but our village doesn’t even have those basic facilities, which speaks volumes about the step-motherly treatment being meted out to us,” they said.
They appealed to the Lt. Governor Girish Chander Murmu to personally look into the matter and help resolve their grievances reported KNO.
