Bandipora, Feb 22: While the district administration Bandipora on Wednesday celebrated a mega Winter Carnival at tourist resort Athwatto, a small hamlet-Koli mohallah rued natural blockade alleging that district administration is least bothered about their plight while they are more concerned about people visiting them.
"Are we animals in a zoo? Our village is cut off with no road link or bridge," said Abdul Hameed Chopan, panch of the village.
Koli Mohallah hamlet falls between the forests of tourist resort Authwatto and Panaar Village. The hamlet has no road link as it has Stream to its south and mountains in other three directions.
Locals said they are facing tremendous hardships owing to absence of a road and a bridge.
They said the Department of Rural Development failed to construct a road under MGNREGS that could have linked the village with Bandipora Athwatto road while a small bridge over Athwatto stream could have also resolved the issue. "Are we demanding too much?" they rued.
The road is only 500 metres uphill the hamlet and locals demand connectivity with the road that could resolve their issues.
A day before the district administration was going to celebrate the Winter Carnival the residents of this hamlet were carrying the body of a deceased person on foot to cross the river for last rites. "We have to carry our patients on shoulders to reach the road where from they are taken to hospital"
Haji Ameer-ud-Din- a 90-year old fell in the stream while crossing it a few weeks ago and since then he is bedridden, locals told Kashmir Convener.
It seems the administration has turned our village into a zoo and tourists will come to see us as subhumans from an early age, they said sarcastically.
"Perhaps our village does not exist in the map of the administration, that's why not a single facility has been provided by the government in our village till date," said Mehraj-ud-Din Ahmad Khan. "We are forced to live like stone-age people”.
Till date we have spoken to the concerned officers hundreds of times but no action has been taken," he added. “We have even written to Lieutenant Governor Cell but the local officers close the file with their own excuses and we continue to live in pathetic conditions”.
Locals urged District Administration and Director Rural Development besides PRIs to ensure construction of the road during the upcoming working season.
