Baramulla: The residents of Sultan Dhaki in Uri area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district have accused the department of Jal Shakti of supplying them unsafe drinking water.
A group of local residents on Thursday met Baramulla Deputy Commissioner and appraised the official about the bad condition of water supplied to the local residents.
The visiting group leader Molvi Safeer Mir while talking to Greater Kashmir said that the drinking water needs of the village are being fulfilled from a stream, water source of which is a neighbouring hill.
He said during the 2005 earthquake, the stream as well as the hill suffered massive damage.
“Even when low intensity wind flows in the area, the dust blows up and mixes with the water, making the quality extremely murky. Same water is then supplied to the local residents without any filtration with the result, some of the local residents here often fall sick,” said Molvi Safeer Mir of Sultan Dhaki Uri.
The aggrieved residents showed the samples of the drinking water to the deputy commissioner Baramulla for her assessment.
The furious residents, while accusing the officials of the Jal Shakti department of playing with the lives of the people, said that during the 2005 earthquake, the area witnessed human loss as well as property damage.
They said, the nearby hill which is the main source of drinking water suffered massive damage during the 2005 earthquake. They said the department of Jal Shakti used to supply water in tankers for several months after the devastating earthquake.
“Despite knowing that the water quality has deteriorated after the earthquake, the department should have set up a filtration plant so that people of the area are supplied with filtered water. However, they continue to supply murky water without any filtration process,” said Muhammad Ashraf, a local resident.
Assistant Executive Engineer, Jal Shakti department Uri, Nisar Ahmad Wani, said that the water quality gets affected during the rainfall in the area. He said that they have started the process of tendering for the construction of a filtration plant in the area and are trying to supply tap water from another source in the area.
“We are working on the possibility of supplying drinking water from another source in the area. In the meantime, the process of setting up a filtration plant has been started,” added Nisar Ahmad Wani.