BANDIPORA DIARY

Students, staff of Bandipora Polytechnic College suffer due to poor road

The students and staff of the government polytechnic college in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district have expressed their anguish over the dilapidated condition of the approach road to the college.

The road as per the students and staff is full of potholes and gets filled with mud during rain, making it difficult for them to reach the institution.

Insiders told Greater Kashmir that around 300 students study in the college, which offers diploma courses in various engineering disciplines.

They said that they had been facing severe problems due to the bad state of the road for some years when the college was shifted, despite bringing it to the notice of the authorities many times.

The students also complained about the lack of transportation facilities, as they have to walk a long distance from the main Bandipora-Sopore road to reach the college.

The lecturers at the college have also raised their voices against the poor road conditions.

The students and staff urged the authorities to take immediate action and resolve their grievances.

Khenusa villagers demand power supply from Aloosa receiving station

The villagers of Khenusa in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district are irked over the Power department’s indifference to their demands of providing them with electricity supply from the Aloosa receiving station in Bandipora.

The village of nearly 4,000 people sits near Watlab, a village in neighboring Sopore in Baramulla district, and gets electricity from Watlab receiving station.

Despite being metered, the villagers say the receiving station is overburdened and they face long power cuts throughout the year. The problem worsens during winter months, they say.

They claimed to be receiveing just four hours of electricity in 24 hours.

Sajjad Ahmad, a villager, said the power development department needs a few electricity poles to connect the village with Aloosa, but it has ignored their pleas. They alleged that people in higher posts in government offices get favoured by receiving electricity from Aloosa station, but the village is deliberately kept in the dark.

The villagers urged the authorities to pay heed to their grievances and resolve them.

Lack of Tundpora-Hakbara bridge makes people suffer

The locals and school-going students are facing immense hardships due to the lack of a bridge over Jehlum in Tundpora- Hakbara village of Sumbal in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district.

Locals said the children are forced to take boats in inclement weather conditions to cross to the other side, besides this, the locals were also annoyed as the two neighboring localities were separated by the river.

Official details available with Greater Kashmir reveal that the DPR for the 240-meter bridge, prepared by the R&B department and amounting to over 10 crore was awaiting to be forwarded to NABARD  authorities for accord of sanction and release of funds.

The locals have urged the concerned authorities to take up the project as soon as possible to bridge the gap and ease the lives of locals.  Besides this, the locals said the bridge would provide connectivity to many villagers and boost the economy of the area.

RDD constructs path in Konan-Baba Gund village, major portion left out

The RDD department has left a major portion of the tiled path in Konan-Babagund unfinished for unknown reasons.

The locals said the department started constructing a tiled path a month ago and tiled two or three lanes. However, they were concerned that the rest of the work was left unattended. The locals demanded that the department or contractor be held accountable and questioned whether they followed the government’s estimate.