Water shortage sparks protest in Kupwara

Kupwara, July 25: Dozens of vehicles were Thursday stranded after the residents of the Alchizab area of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, blocked the Batergam-Awoora road to protest against the Jal Shakti Department for failing to provide them potable water for the last several weeks.

The protesters, including women, assembled on the road and blocked it for quite some time while raising slogans against the department.

The protesting residents said that they were facing hardships due to the non-availability of water for the past several weeks.

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

The protestors said that the concerned department had taken them for a ride, forcing them to register their protest.

“We have registered our protests on numerous times in the past too but nothing was done to mitigate our problems. Every other day we have to pay upto Rs 500 to a tractor owner who then brings water for us from a pond some 10 km away," they said.

The protesters dispersed peacefully after a Police party assured them of redressing their grievance in a couple of days.