Srinagar: Around 10,000 people of Kamad in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district are forced to consume contaminated water as Jal Shakti Department has failed to provide them potable water.
Residents said the authorities have constructed a water supply for residents of Kamad but has not been started yet.
“There is an old water supply on which crores of rupees have been spent. However, the water is not reaching to reservoir where from it could have been supplied to people,” Ashfaq Ahmad, a local told news agency Kashmir Indepth News Service (KINS).
He said around 10,000 people from Kamad and its adjoining areas are facing water shortage. “We have to fetch contaminated water from Nallahs,” he said.
Another resident Firdous Ahmad said they have apprised concerned officials several times about shortage of water but to no avail. “Our women have to fetch water from Nallah which we later consume. We are forced to consume untreated water from ponds and Nallah which has led to several diseases to the locals,” he said.
The Jal Shakti Department had in 1982 constructed an Over Head Tank (OHT) at Ugjen Teng in Kamad area. The scheme was supposed to cater to water supply needs of half a dozen villages including Kamad, Chichripora, Laalan, Nawathoo, Papaibal and Chek Kamad.
The scheme however was a failure and despite spending crores of rupees in repeated maintenance of the pipes and the OHT.
According to a report of a local daily, locals have demanded a Vigilance enquiry into the mindless money spending in the name of these water supply schemes.
Executive Engineer of the JSD for Bijbehara Division, Muhammad Haneef admitted people were facing shortage of water at Kamad.
“We had a meeting with DC sahab in this regard. We are going to construct OHT for which we are looking for land so that water shortage problem of locals is solved,” he told news agency KINS.