Residents of Kupwara area rue lack of basic amenities

Kupwara, Apr 27: The residents of Gujarnar in Qaziabad area of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district have expressed strong resentment against authorities for failing to provide them basic amenities, making them suffer severely.

The residents said that the 3 km road from Rengpath to Gujarnar was in pathetic condition giving tough time to the commuters. “This road is dotted with potholes on multiple spots due to which we are subjected to severe hardships. We have been demanding macadamisation of our road for the last so many years but to no avail,” said former sarpanch Salam Din.

The residents also complained about the lack of potable drinking water in the area. They said that under the Jal Jeevan Mission every household in Kashmir was supposed to get drinking water but this scheme was yet to be extended to their habitation.

They demanded potable drinking water at the earliest so that their sufferings may end.

The residents are also anguished about the lack of cellular network in the village. “Whenever we are in need to make a call we have to walk out of our village several kilometres to reach a destination where our mobiles catch signal and only then we are able to make a call. The students of the area face most of the brunt due to lack of mobile internet,” the residents said.

Dangling electricity wires and decaying poles in the area pose a significant threat to the residents. The residents complained that the concerned department has failed to upgrade transmission infrastructure in the area even after approaching them numerous times.

The residents also said that the Food Department was not supplying ration in the village, forcing them to bring ration to their villages from Rengpath. They said that they are forced to cover a distance of almost 3 kms from Rengpath to reach Gujarnar.

The residents have sought immediate intervention of Deputy Commissioner (DC) Kupwara Ayushi Sudan in this regard so that the hardships being faced by the people may end soon.