Bandipora Diary

Residents of Bandipora village deprived of potable water

The Kanibathi villagers in Aloosa tehsil of north Kashmir have been craving for potable water for over a decade. Locals told Greater Kashmir that the village was not getting any benefit despite the Jal Jeevan mission making clean and potable water accessible to all.

"Our village of 150 households has been deprived of potable water supply for 15 years," Irfan Ahmad, a local businessman from Kanibathi village said.

Ahmad said despite repeated requests and pleas to the administration "no one was paying any heed to our issue."

The locals said a few years ago the Jal Jeevan mission of the erstwhile PHE department promised them they would be provided potable and clean water.

The department as per locals "in fact constructed a borewell in Ashtengoo village" and laid pipes to it to connect the villagers to the Water Supply Scheme (WSS). However, despite elapsing over two years, no water has been provided to them.

"We have even launched numerous protests, but no one listens to us," aggrieved Ahmad said. He said, "The promises from the department are not kept."

The locals said they have been consuming untreated water from the Zaingeer canal due to which numerous children over the years have fallen sick due to jaundice outbreaks.

The locals said the department should pay attention "to our genuine grievances and provide us with a potable water supply so that we are not forced again to come out on the streets."

Ashtengoo lacks water supply, development

The Ashtengoo villagers of north Kashmir's Bandipra district say that a majority of the population has been deprived of potable water supply due to a nonfunctional water supply scheme.

"Three households from our village have been suffering due to the unavailability of potable water in our village," Sheikh Aabid, a local shopkeeper from Ashtengoo village told Greater Kashmir.

Sheikh said the village gets water via a bore well which is a lift scheme. Connected to motors, he said, it operates from electricity, however, the motor has been developing regular snags thus depriving hundreds of villagers of drinking water supply.

"For now, it has been four months in a stretch that we haven't been getting regular water supply," Sheikh lamented.

He said the villagers have to travel long distances to fetch water for daily purposes which is a cumbersome process, especially for the women and elderly.

Locals said the bridge over the Zaingeer canal was also very narrow and despite being an important road link connecting the hospital and other parts of the village on the other side of the canal, the Roads and Buildings department was "not paying any attention to make it wider."

"We have had numerous incidents in the past where cars rolled down in the canal. With peak agriculture season on, the movement of tractors and other vehicles via the bridge has increased many folds, and the fear of any eventuality looms over all the time," Mushtaq Ahmad Lone a villager said.

The locals said the authorities "must pay attention" to these two important issues and resolve the grievances for the "benefit of villagers."