Kupwara, December 18: On Monday, the people living in Gazeryal staged a demonstration against the Jal Shakti department for their failure to guarantee the area’s consistent supply of clean drinking water over the last several years.
A number of locals, mostly women, demonstrated in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office, stopping all traffic for a while in the process. The Jal Shakti department was being criticized by the demonstrators for not doing enough to allay their sincere worries.
They said that, in spite of repeated requests, the authorities had not restored the water supply or taken any concrete action, despite the region suffering from a severe water deficit for the previous six years.
The demonstrators said they had been duped by the Jal Shakti department and had no choice but to organize the demonstration. They added that, despite their best efforts, they had already brought up the matter with the relevant authorities many times.
On Monday, the people living in Gazeryal staged a demonstration against the Jal Shakti department for their failure to guarantee the area’s consistent supply of clean drinking water over the last several years.
A number of locals, mostly women, demonstrated in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office, stopping all traffic for a while in the process. The Jal Shakti department was being criticized by the demonstrators for not doing enough to allay their sincere worries.
They said that, in spite of repeated requests, the authorities had not restored the water supply or taken any concrete action, despite the region suffering from a severe water deficit for the previous six years.
The demonstrators said they had been duped by the Jal Shakti department and had no choice but to organize the demonstration. They added that, despite their best efforts, they had already brought up the matter with the relevant authorities many times.
The administration has not been able to alleviate our difficulties; therefore, we have been compelled to go to the streets,” a female protestor said. The villagers reported that their problems have been exacerbated by the fact that they used to get a water truck from Jal Shakti Department, Kupwara, but for reasons that are now unclear, they no longer receive one.
Since the majority of the males in our community leave the area during the winter to find work elsewhere, the women have significant challenges when it comes to providing their families with clean drinking water. Another protestor remarked, “Tractor drivers have to get paid Rs 500 every three days to fetch us drinking water.”
“Work on the Drangyari-Gazeryal water scheme was started six years ago, but it hasn’t been finished for reasons that are best known to the relevant authorities,” she said.
Later, once the government calmed the demonstrators, they quietly dispersed. Executive Engineer Jal Shakti Department Kupwara visited Gazeryal in the meantime and promised to keep supplying water tankers to the community till the Drangyari-Gazeryal water project was reinstated.
