Suhail Rather
Bandipora, Feb 03: The residents of Kanbathi village of Bandipora district in North Kashmir complained that they have been facing acute shortage of tap water facility in their area forcing them to fetch contaminated water for their daily use.
Gh Hassan a local resident said that the water supply scheme was constructed a few years ago in Ashtanga village with the cost of crores of rupees which was supposed to provide tap water facility to around three villages
He also said that authorities have constructed a water supply scheme in his name after waterborne disease was found in the village in 2008.
The water supply scheme according to the residents was constructed to provide water supply to the area turned out a sham as it could not provide tap water facility to the area.
"The pipes were laid down months ago with lakhs of rupees but the facilities served no purpose," another resident Gh Nabi said.
He also said that the residents are forced to drink contaminated water from nearby streams and springs which have now dried also.
"We have to travel around half a kilometre to bring water for our daily needs. Earlier we remained dependent on the nearby stream from which we bring water for our homes, the authorities laid down pipes and removed our old pipes from the natural stream leaving us without both the contaminated water and tap water," Rafiqa Begum, a local woman said.
She also said that the promise of providing potable water supply to every household is nowhere on the ground. "Authorities have failed to provide us portable drinking water facility to us despite passing a decades after construction of water supply scheme"
Another local woman Khatija Begum said that they have protested several times over water scarcity. "No one is listening to us, we are facing a water crisis in harsh winter,".
"We have been forced to get water from nearby streams which have been polluted now and are affecting the health of our elderly peoples and childrens," she stated.
The residents appealed LG Administration and District Administration Bandipora to intervene in the matter and resolve their genuine grievances as soon as possible.
