Kupwara: A youth from Rajpora Handwara has found an alternative of potable water for his village comprising over 200 households.
Ishfaq Ahmad, an MSc Ultrasonograpahy (USG), working as an MRI technician in Delhi on his return home last year found people of his village consuming contaminated water from a local Nallah, Golipora.
“I enquired from the elders of my village why the Jal Shakti Department had failed to provide drinking water to them. I was shocked to hear that they had been consuming contaminated water for the past several years and despite numerous representations to the concerned department, the officials had turned deaf ears to their pleas,” Ahmad said. “Staying at home and watching people without drinking water haunted me. Staying in Delhi for last several years with every basic amenity I had never imagined life without portable water at home.”
He said he used to get disturbed on seeing women of his locality carry water covering a kilometre and a half on foot from Golipora Nallah.
Ahmad said that the Jal Shakti Department had started to construct a bore-well at Rajpora for which storage tank had already been constructed.
However, work on the bore-well was left half way, he said.
Ahmad said that during a walk with friends, he witnessed abundant ground water oozing out from a roadside hillock few kilometers from his village.
“Instantly an idea came to my mind that if the concerned department utilizes this pure ground water, the hardships faced by the people of my village could end. I along with my friends went to the department and discussed the idea with the officials there but they showed cold shoulder,” he said. “At home, I started to think how could the water oozing out from the hillock be used as an alternative for the villagers. I, on my own, managed to construct a 4 feet by 8 feet concrete water storage tank by spending over Rs 20,000.”
However, he said that due to financial constraints, he was unable to procure the required pipes to supply the water to the village.
“I appeal Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and Deputy Commissioner Kupwara Imam Din to supply the water in the reservoir by laying pipes to the village,” Ahmad said.
Locals hailed his efforts and said that if the government lays the pipes to the village, their problem would be redressed.