Sopore: Scores of residents including women of Chekroday Khan area of Sopore in north kashmir’s Baramulla district took to streets on Thursday and staged a protest against Jal Shakti department for failing to provide them regular water supply.
According to reports protesters, mostly women, staged a protest demonstration near Fruit Mandi Sopore and blocked the road which affected traffic movement.
The protesters said that they are facing immense hardships due to water shortage for the last many years.
Soon after the protest started in the area, a police party reached the spot and assured protestors that the matter would be taken up with higher authorities of the concerned department.
Locals said that their area is worst affected due to non- availability of adequate water for decades.
Rafeeqa Begum, one of the protesters, said that, “ We have approached the Jal Shakti department many times but nothing has been done at the ground level.” She said that authorities have forced them to drink contaminated water from near-by dirty streams “which is not safe for our health.”
Meanwhile officials in Jal Shakti department Sopore said that the water crisis will be redressed at the earliest. They added that water has already been supplied to the affected areas through water tankers on a routine basis.