Residents of Kupwara area face hardships due to poor road condition

Kupwara, Dec 23: Located in the foothills of Bangus valley, Watsar village in Upper Rajwar area of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district was without a road until 2010. After numerous representations by the inhabitants to district administration, authorities approved a road for Watsar but that remained confined to earth cutting only even after the passage of fourteen years.

From Shatigam, Watsar villagers are forced to cover 2 kilometres distance up to their village by foot. The residents although several times have requested transporters to start a cab service for their village but they did not come to their rescue citing reasons of the pathetic condition of the road leading to Watsar village.

The residents said that due to the dilapidated condition of their road, they were suffering badly and nobody was listening to their genuine demand of road macadamisation. “During winter we are forced to shoulder our patients at the time of any medical emergency because drivers are reluctant to ply their vehicles on our road,” said the residents.

The students of the village are also subjected to severe hardships due to the pathetic condition of the road. “I along with my friends leave early in the morning to attend coaching classes at Shatigam, two and a half kilometers away from our village. Every working day we are supposed to walk this distance on foot and then come back. For the last several years we have been getting promises of repair and macadamisation of our road but at the end of the year those assurances and promises turn out to be hoaxes,” said a class 10th student of the area.

The residents have appealed Member Legislative Assembly (MLA) Handwara Sajad Gani Lone to personally look into the matter so that their long pending demand may get fulfilled.