Water shortage sparks protest in Kupwara’s Lalpora

Kupwara, Sep 18: The residents of Teli Mohallah Lalpora in Lolab area of Kupwara Thursday staged a protest against lack of drinking water, causing immense hardships for the inhabitants. The protesters blocked Kupwara-Lalpora road, disrupting traffic movement. “We are facing an acute shortage of drinking water for last several months and despite repeated requests to the concerned department, no action was taken, forcing us to register protest," said a protestor.

"Our women folk suffer the most as they are forced to fetch water from distant water sources. The authorities and the concerned MLA must address our issue before winter so that the hardships being faced may end," said another protestor.

The protesters said that if the concerned authorities failed to mitigate their problem, they will intensify their agitation and will take their protest to the district headquarters.

Later a Police party reached the spot and convinced the protestors of getting their grievance resolved, following which they dispersed peacefully.

Meanwhile Assistant Executive Engineer Jal Shakti Department Division Lolab, Towseef Ahmad Zargar told Greater Kashmir that a new water supply scheme has already been approved for the affected village. He said that due to funding issue, the work on the water scheme was going with slow pace but hopefully it will be completed soon. He said that a water tanker will be provided to the village regularly until their issue is resolved permanently.