Drinking water scarcity grips Sopore areas

Sopore, Mar 21: Amid ongoing Ramadhan, residents of various localities in Sopore town have been complaining about shortage of water supply blaming the Jal Shakti department for failing to address their grievance.

The inhabitants of various localities including Jalalabad, Aadipora, Naseerabad, Mahrajpora, Takyabal, Gousia Colony Noor Bagh, Noorabad Bypass, Green Town and Mominabad, have been accusing the Jal Shakti department in Sopore for failing to supply them adequate drinking which results in inconvenience to them.

"We are suffering immensely as the area faces a decline in water supply for years. The area has no proper water supply mechanism, despite our locality being situated at main town Sopore," one of the local residents of Gousia Colony Noor Bagh Mohammad Shafi Lara said.

He said that the area has been suffering for several years and nobody from administration and the concerned department bothered "about our suffering." He said that the authorities in the Jal Shakti department were making them to face hardships and accused it of ignoring their plight.

Similarly, residents of Shahabad and Sangrampora Sopore complained of tap water shortage since the last two weeks. “We have approached the Jal Shakti department Sopore so many times, but nothing has been done at the ground level,” they said, adding that authorities have forced them to drink contaminated water from river Jhelum “which is too away from our localities and is not safe for our health.”

Demanding immediate redressal of their grievances, the residents said that they were facing immense hardships due to acute shortage of water supply particularly in this month of Ramadhan, which was making their lives miserable.

Meanwhile officials in Jal Shakti department Sopore said that the water crisis will be redressed at the earliest. They added that water was being supplied to the affected areas through water tankers on a routine basis.