Sopore residents hold protest over water shortage

Sopore, Aug 08: Residents of Jalalabad area of Sopore town in Baramulla district on Thursday lodged a protest against the Jal Shakti department for its failure to provide them adequate supply of drinking water.

Scores of women took to the streets and blocked the Sopore-Bandipora road to voice their concerns on the water crisis in the locality. The protesters raised slogans denouncing the concerned department’s inefficiency and called upon the authorities in Baramulla district to intervene in order to end their suffering during this scorching summer season.

“We have been grappling with water scarcity for a long time. The Jal Shakti department has completely neglected our needs, and it is unacceptable. We demand immediate action to rectify this dire situation,” one of the protesting residents said.

Another resident, Rafeeqa, urged the authorities to address the issue promptly. “Water is a basic necessity, and it is appalling that we are forced to suffer due to the negligence of the concerned department,” she said.

Residents also alleged that the department has laid new water supply pipelines in their area affecting water supply to the area from the last fifteen days. They added that “we approached the concerned officials many times but they did nothing on the issue.”

“Now we have appealed to the LG and DC Baramulla to resolve this water shortage problem in our area so that residents will not have to suffer more.”