KUPWARA DIARY

Overhead water tank in Langate area awaits completion for 8 years

The residents of Khanoo and adjacent villages in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district have expressed strong resentment against Jal Shakti Department for failing to complete the under construction over head water tank from last eight years with the result people are facing lot of hardships due to lack of potable drinking water.

The residents said that the project was sanctioned in the year 2014 following which work was started but after the passage of eight years it is not being completed much to the disappointment of locals.

They said that the project once completed would provide drinking water to Khanoo, Babagund, Kacree, Ujroo, Lalbugh and few other villages. They said that over thousand households reside in these villages.

The residents said that the project is being constructed with 13.5 crores and out of which 6 crores stand already approved.

They said that 70 lakhs have been spent on the construction of over head water tank and remaining work is not being taken up due to the reasons best known to authorities.

“The project includes construction of filtration plant and laying of pipes to the above villages, leave filtration plant and pipes aside, the over head tank has not been completed till date,” a local told Greater Kashmir.

“We are forced to use contaminated water from a local Nallah which always poses threat of water borne diseases to us,” he added.

The residents said that they have brought this issue to the notice of concern department on numerous occasions but to no avail.

They have sought immediate intervention of LG Manoj Sinha in this regard so that their demand is met at the earliest.

Multiple villages in Rajwar face water shortage

Residents of several villages in Rajwar area of Handwara have expressed strong resentment against Jal Shakti Department for failing to provide them potable drinking water resulting in severe hardships to the inhabitants. Residents of upper villages of Rajwar including Sarmarg Check, Sarmarg Main, Hamlapati, Shat Mohalla, Rajpora, Zachaldara, Ahgam, Khahipora alleged that the villages were reeling under acute shortage of water from past several years but authorities have failed to take any tangible measure despite repeated pleas.

Residents said that due to non availability of tap water they were forced to use contaminated water from the local streams which always poses  threat to their life and in recent past several persons have fallen ill due to water borne diseases.

“We are unable to figure out why government is non serious pertaining our long pending issue,” Ayoub Khan, a local told Greater Kashmir.

According to locals several schemes were taken up in past to deal with water crisis but due to reasons best known to authorities they were left midway. “We have been moving from pillar to post to get this genuine demand redressed but every time our pleas fall on deaf ears,” another local said.

Poor cellular service irks Kupwara villagers

The residents of Nichihama Rajwar have accused private telecom operator companies “Jio” and “Airtel” of poor voice calls and mobile internet service thus making people suffer.

The subscribers told Greater Kashmir that they were facing immense problems due to erratic call and internet services for last several years in their area.

The residents said that they can hardly make calls due to lack of mobile connectivity in their area and during emergencies they have to walk several kilometers out of their village to get mobile connectivity for making a single call.

They said that there was a dire need of installing a tower in their locality so that people may get easy access to others.

The students said that they were suffering due to lack of internet resultantly they were unable to take online classes.

They have sought immediate intervention of Deputy Commissioner Kupwara Ayushi Sudan and other concerned officials so that their grievance is redressed at the earliest.