Residents of Meemender locality in south Kashmir’s Shopian district have to face immense hardships due to a shortage of piped water.
Scores of households in Bren colony Meemander, barely 2 km from the main town, have been reeling under erratic water supply over the last three years.
Manzoor Ahmad, a resident, told Greater Kashmir that they were forced to fetch water from streams.
“Due to the use of contaminated water, a threat of waterborne diseases looms large over the area”, he said. Many residents said that they drew the attention of authorities several times to the issue but to no avail. “ All our requests went unheeded”, they said.
According to the residents, the PHE department began laying the water pipes in 2020, but they left the work halfway through.
The residents appealed to the Jal Shakti (PHE) department to resolve the issue forthwith.
Parking slot lacks macadamisation
In an attempt to do away with the traffic snarls in Shopian town, the authorities recently converted a park into a parking slot.
However, the unmacadised slot put the motorists at great inconvenience.
During the rains, the entire space turns into a muddy cesspool and the cars entering the area leave behind deep ruts.
“After you park your car in the area, it then becomes nearly impossible to walk back through the muddy surface”, said Basharat Ahmad, a commuter.
He said that the cars were also stuck in the mud.
“Many motorists steer clear of parking their cars inside this newly created parking slot”, he added.
Suhail Malik, Executive Officer Municipal Council Shopian, however, told Greater Kashmir that a multiple-level car parking would soon come up at the place.
He said that the project already stands approved by the Directorate of Urban Local Bodies.
According to Malik, the project would resolve the long-standing parking issue in the town and put an end to the pesky traffic jams.
Narrow road
The Shopian-Turkwangam road presents a glaring example of official apathy.
The narrow road has not been widened for many years and is also dotted by multiple potholes at several places, giving a harrowing experience to the commuters.
“The battered road causes body aches and increases the travel time”, said Javed Ahmad, a commuter.
He said that the road is in a rundown condition at several places beyond Pinjoora village. Ahmad said that the bikers always have had the worst experience of riding along the road.
The road, according to the residents, connects dozens of apple-rich villages with district headquarters and remains busy during the harvesting season.
They said that the road needed to be widened immediately.
“During the apple season it becomes difficult for apple-laden trucks to ply along the road”, said the residents.
“At several places, two vehicles could not pass at a time”, they said.
A senior R & B official told Greater Kashmir that the road would be repaired wherever its surface had deteriorated.
