Water shortage evokes protest in Handwara

Kupwara, Aug 07: Dozens of vehicles were Wednesday left stranded after the residents of Hamam Bal and Khan Mohalla in Maidan Chogal area of Handwara blocked the Sopore-Kupwara road to protest against the Jal Shakti Department for failing to provide them tap water for the last several weeks.

The protesters, including women, assembled on the road and blocked it for quite some time while chanting anti-department slogans. The protesting residents said that they are facing tremendous hardships due to the non-availability of water from the past several weeks.

“We are being deprived of drinking water. The department has miserably failed to provide us drinking water,” said a woman protester.

The protestors said that the concerned department has taken them for a ride, forcing them to register the protest. “We have registered our protests numerous times in the past too but nothing was done to mitigate our problems.”

Later Tehsildar Handwara Zeeshan Khan along with other officials arrived on the spot and assured the protestors of redressing their problem. A water tanker was also arranged for the people who were protesting against non-availability of water.