Water shortage: Locals from 3 Boniyar villages stage protest

Uri, Oct 4: The residents of Ijara, Shamswari and Peernia villages of Boniyar area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district Monday staged a protest demonstration against PHE Department and blocked a link road connecting Srinagar-Muzaffarabad highway at Peerniyan against the acute drinking water shortage.
The protesters including men, and children assembled at the highway and resorted to sloganeering against the PHE Department. They were demanding the immediate restoration the clean drinking water supply in their villages.
The blockage of the link road also resulted in the traffic mess for several hours.
The protesting residents told news agency Kashmir News Trust: “We are not getting pure drinking water from past several years due to which they were forced to drink contaminated water.”
They said that the authorities are ignoring the plight of the residents and don’t even bother to look into the sufferings of the inhabitants.
“The department must restore the pure drinking water immediately so that the locals here could feel a sigh of relief,” they said.
After the assurances given by the officials, the protesters later dispersed peacefully.
When contacted AEE, Nasir Ahmed said that the long pending demand of these villagers will be fulfilled in coming days as a new water supply scheme will be started shortly. (KNT)