Water shortage sparks protest in Handwara village

Kupwara: The residents of Kuhroo village of Handwara Friday held a protest against the Jal Shakti department for failing to ensure regular supply of potable drinking water to the area for the past five days.

Carrying wooden logs and pots, a group of residents including women staged a protest on the Handwara-Baramulla road, bringing traffic to a complete halt.

   

The protesters staged a sit-in raising slogans against the Jal Shakti department.

They alleged that the area was reeling under acute shortage of water for the past five days yet the authorities had failed to restore water supply or take any tangible measure despite repeated pleas.

The protesters said that the Jal Shakti department had taken them for a ride, leaving them with no option but to stage the protest.

They alleged that the department had been supplying them contaminated water from a local stream, posing a threat of water-borne diseases.

The protestors said that despite repeated pleas for construction of a filtration plant, the department had done nothing in this regard.

They said that they had taken up the issues with the concerned authorities on several occasions in the past but to no avail.

“We have been forced to hit the streets as the government has failed to mitigate out problems,” said a protestor.

The protestors were pacified after the Station House Officer (SHO) Shahid Ahmad assured them that their grievance would be redressed soon.

Meanwhile, District Development Council Chairman Kupwara Irfan Panditpori acknowledged that people were suffering due to water shortage.

He said that a review meeting of the Jal Shakti department had been scheduled in the coming days.

“I am sure that a tangible solution to water storage will come out of meeting,” he said.

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