Water scarcity evokes protest in Bandipora’s Inderkoot area

Bandipora, June 20: Scores of men and women protested against the administration in the Indrkoot area of Sumbal town in north Kashmir's Bandipora district on Thursday for failing to provide them potable water for years.

The protestors also blocked Inderkoot-Sumbal road, affecting traffic movement on the road for a few hours.

Holding empty utensils and buckets, the protestors slammed authorities for keeping them in a "perpetual wait for years" without a solution. The area, locals said, has been "deprived" of potable water supply for almost five years.

"We are longing for a drop of clean water to reach our homes, but no authority seems to pay any heed to our pleas despite witnessing our daily struggles," one protester, Abdul Aziz said.

The protestors said the Jal Jeevan mission had promised them the construction of bore wells to compensate for the water supply shortage.

"Even after submitting a DPR years ago, no work has kick-started leaving old people and kids in our homes vulnerable to water-borne diseases as we have to consume water from untreated sources,"another protestor said.

The villagers alleged the water tanker services provided by the department were not meeting their requirements besides being "unclean."

Women from the village blamed authorities like PDD, PHE and the Municipality for raising regular monthly bills but ignoring their plight as the services are not up to the mark which they said was a "shame."

"We haven't been getting any benefit as we continue to struggle without regular power and water supply."

The protesters appealed to the higher authorities to look into the matter and help resolve their "genuine grievances" as soon as possible.