Residents of Uri village rue lack of basic facilities

Srinagar, Sep 03: Residents of Hathlanga village along the Line of Control (LoC) in Uri area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district said that they are facing various hardships due to the lack of basic facilities.

A delegation of locals told Greater Kashmir that the administration has failed to provide adequate facilities to the villagers.

“No ration depot has been established by the concerned department till date in our village. We are forced to travel nine kilometers to Saidpora area to collect our ration. We demand the establishment of a separate ration depot in the village,” said Talib Hussain, a local.

“The sumo drivers charge us Rs 100 per ration bag to transport it to our village. We cannot afford such expenses regularly,” he added.

He highlighted the difficulties faced during winters when the area is covered in snow.

“The area gets cut off from the tehsil headquarters for almost a month due to hilly terrain and snowfall. During this time, obtaining ration becomes extremely challenging due to road closure. Sometimes, we are forced to walk kilometers to get the ration,” Talib explained.

Mohd Hussain, another local, criticised the government for failing to reconstruct the Middle School Hathlanga building, which was damaged in the 2005 earthquake.

“Another school has been established in two rooms of an Indian Army tailoring center in the village, but its location on a hillock has caused many students to stop attending it,” he said.

Locals pointed out that the health sub-center of the village operates from a tin shed.

“The sub-center was approved in 2015 but no building has been constructed by the department to date despite a local offering the land for the facility. Currently, the center is functioning from a dilapidated tin shed,” they said.

They have appealed to Deputy Commissioner (DC) Baramulla and SDM Uri to address their grievances on priority.