The residents of Bonakoot village in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district are up in arms against the district administration for failing to provide even basic amenities to the village.
The residents said that the village doesn’t even have basicfacilities like proper roads, water supply, electricity and health care, makingthem suffer immensely.
“The roads including inner links of the village are ina shambles owing to the inefficiency of the concerned department. The villagedoesn’t have a proper water supply and scenario of electricity is worse. FromNovember last we haven’t seen electricity for more than two hours a day. Suchis the power scenario here,” said Mohammad Sidiq, a local resident.
He said that the village has one NTPHC which was upgradedsome 4 years ago but it is still without basic facilities and is stillfunctioning as a sub-center.
The villagers said that the health center doesn’t even havea doctor as the post lies vacant and concerned department has failed to fill upthe post.
They said that they have been knocking the doors of all theconcerned authorities from last several years but nobody even bothers to visitthe area to have the first-hand appraisal of the problems being faced by thevillagers.
Bonakoot village, according to the residents, is the largestvillage of Bandipora in terms of population and is only a few kilometers awayfrom district headquarters. “However, the village is the most neglectedpart of the district as people are craving for even basic facilitieshere,” they said.
They said that the R&B department has failed to upgradethe condition of the main road which is dotted with potholes for last fewyears.
“We have apprised the department several times aboutthe condition of the road but they failed to address our grievances. Same isthe case with electricity and water supply. The government high school in thevillage also lacks space as it runs in a one-storey ramshackle building,”said Ghulam Hassan, another local resident.
Deputy Commissioner Bandipora, Shahbaz Ahmad Mirza, said hewould look into these issues and address their grievances.