Raja Syed Rather
Ganderbal, Nov 28: The people of this village in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district suffer for the want of basic facility as water.
Bagdoo-Pati Kachnambal-B village, barely 13 kilometres from sub-division Kangan is without a drinking water facility, with people being forced to consume contaminated water from a local canal, the locals said. The village comprises over 60 households.
The locals said the government has “completely ignored” the village and left it to fend for itself. “The administration does not even bother to provide us with a basic facility like drinking water. They have ignored us like we don’t exist,” said a woman.
“We have been consuming water from surrounding streams which can be dangerous in times of increased pollution and pose a serious threat to our health,” she added.
The residents said they approached the Jal Shakti Department Ganderbal many times and received assurance of getting a water supply soon but no step has been taken in this matter so far.
“The government claims that people are being provided with all basic facilities, but we don’t even have drinking water facility,” a local said.
“It breaks the back of our women to fetch water from the canal that too in this bone-chilling cold. It is also an embarrassment to venture out to the stream for water in these so-called modern times,” said an elderly person Ghulam Muhammad.
“Many children in our village have suffered from gastrointestinal problems due to contaminated water,” he added.
The residents have appealed to the Lieutenant Governor-led administration and DC Ganderbal to look into the matter and provide a drinking water supply to the village at the earliest.
