Residents of Kupwara village rue lack of basic amenities

Kupwara, Aug 23: The residents of a remote village of Gujarnar in Qaziabad area of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district are living a miserable life due to lack of basic amenities.

According to residents they have knocked at every door from district administration to public representatives but nothing concrete has come their way, leaving them dejected.

The residents while talking to this correspondent revealed the tale of hardships they face on a day-to-day basis.

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 a local resident, Salam Din Seer.

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 are forced 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 have said that even after the presence of a godown in the village, the Food Department was not dumping 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 Additional Deputy Commissioner (DC) Handwara in this regard so that the hardships being faced by the people may end soon