Baramulla: The residents of Shalteng, Narwav area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district Wednesday staged a protest over the scarcity of drinking water in the area.
The protesters, mostly women, demanded an immediate end to their ordeal.
The protesters said that they were not receiving potable water most of the time and despite repeated representations to the authorities and protests, the problem had not been resolved yet.
“Our area has been facing water scarcity for the past several years. We are forced to drink contaminated water and it has affected our health badly,” said a protesting woman.
Urging the administration to address the issue on a priority basis, the agitating protesters said that tap water scarcity was a major issue in the area which causes immense hardship to the local population. They said that the authorities need to act in time so that people of the area are not deprived of basic amenities like drinking water.
“It is painful that our village is without drinking water, which is discriminatory towards our village. We will continue our protest if our issue is not resolved,” said Farooq Ahmad Dar of Shalteng village.
An official of the Jal Shakti Department, Baramulla, who visited the spot, persuaded the agitating people to end the protest and promised that their grievance would be addressed soon.
“We will address this issue soon. A water pipeline will be connected with the Zogiyar water pipeline which will ensure drinking water for the affected village,” the official said.