Residents of Hapatnaar village here on Sunday staged protest against the PHE department over water shortage in the area, despite construction of a new supply scheme some years ago.
The villagers including women assembled near the water supply scheme with empty buckets and shouted slogans against the department for paying a deaf ear to their repeated pleas.
The villagers said they have to travel long distances downhill to fetch water from the streams which too were running dry due to scant rainfall this season.
The villagers said apart from the daily chores the domestic animals were also affected due to shortage of the water supply.
A villager, Nadir Ali Khatana said they have not received any water supply since the new scheme was commissioned.
The village head, Mushtaq Ahmad said the dry weather was making things difficult for them.
The villagers said they provided their agricultural and orchard land for the scheme, but have not benefited from it.
A junior engineer of the PHE department acknowledged that Suntiri mohalla of the village which consists of half of the village population was facing difficulty as it was yet to be connected to the supply line.
He said since the area was located uphill they get water from the springs. But due to the dry weather conditions the water scarcity has grown.
Executive Engineer and Assistant Executive Engineer PHE said the issue will be resolved soon.