BANDIPORA DIARY

NTPHC Quilmiqam without electricity for 5 years

The New Type Primary Health center at Quilmuqam village in north Kashmir's Bandipora is without electricity since it was handed over to the department in 2019. Besides electricity, the facility also lacks proper washrooms which have been affecting not only the patients but even paramedics and doctors stationed there. With the result, locals say the machinery at the facility was gathering dust and has rendered the facility nearly in operational for a large number of people living in the village and its peripheral areas.

"The department has been insensitive to the demands of people here and the facility has been left almost useless," Abdul Wahid Shah, a villager said.

Locals said they had approached concerned authorities multiple times to redress the grievances but nothing was being done. The locals said that the vital machinery, including ECG which required electricity was lying defunct forcing a sizable number of people to seek treatment even for minor ailments at district hospital. Muzaffar Hussain another villager said the facility was important for people living in upper reaches like Gujjar Basti, Reshwari, Tangpathri Hapatnaar, Kamawari and Quil itself.

Hussain said if not thousands, hundreds of these villagers, who are underprivileged and mostly poor may have benefited. The residents said besides lack of electricity and washrooms, the facility lacked all essential amenities, including medicines, and even doctors and paramedical staff.

Last year, then CMO Bandipora had said that the facility will get electricity supply following DPR from the power department. However, locals say that nothing has happened.

They said even though one more demand for water was met, all other issues remain unresolved.

Shahgund villagers suffer due to unavailability of potable water

Shahgund villagers in Sumbal Sonwari subdivision in Bandipora are annoyed and angry with the concerned authorities for failing to provide them with a potable water supply. The villagers said at least fifty families have been struggling for years to get authorities attention towards their plight, which has long remained unresolved. The locals said the department under Jal Jeevan Mission had finally laid pipes some time ago, but "It was a mere eye wash," Mubashir Maqbool, a villager said that the tapes continue to remain dry. The villagers said they have to travel one kilometer to fetch water from nearby water sources and regularly have to pay load carriers to fetch them water.

Those who can't afford it are forced to walk by foot and collect water in buckets from long distances.

They said the issues have persisted for at least seven years now, and despite regular pleas to concerned authorities "nobody was paying any heed."

They said field employees come and go but the issue persists, and for some "concrete solution," they said they had approached authorities in the subdivision multiple times, but to no avail.

"Nobody seems to pay any attention, we don't know where to go now," a woman said. The locals requested the concerned authorities to redress their grievances so that they can heave a sigh of relief.