Srinagar, July 25: The residents of Pamposh Colony, Natipora, are facing acute water shortage. The local residents said that despite putting up applications and bringing it to the notice of the concerned authorities no step has been taken to ameliorate the problem.
Locals of the Lane number one said that despite Tangnar water supply scheme being functional and pipes laid for the said purpose the area has not been connected. “For the past three years we have been hearing that once Tangnar water scheme becomes functional there will be no water paucity. But one year has passed since it became operational but our lane has been strangely left out,” said Falak, a housewife.
The residents said that barring their lane surrounding areas are getting benefitted from the Tangnar water scheme. Another resident of the same lane, a pensioner, said, “When we brought this thing in the notice of assistant executive engineer he feigned surprise and assured that the matter will be taken into consideration. But so far nothing has moved.”
The lane has 30 households. The paucity of water becomes sever during summers because locals allege that a few households in the locality have illegally plugged the water pipes for their own use. “This they have done as they rent around 50 to 200 labourers in their houses making it difficult for other households to have water,” said a local resident. They said this matter was also brought into the notice of concerned authority but they only paid lip service.
During rainy days water supply also gets stopped. Sources in the Public Health Engineering department said that as the water becomes muddy in the Doodganga filter plant the PHE department does not use alum to clean the water. Sources said this is because the PHE has no alums and as such water supply is stopped. “We cannot tell the people that we have no alums, so we stop the water until the muddy water recedes,” said an employee of the PHE department.
Sources in the PHE department said that unless people do not block roads to press forward their demands officials of the department do not take things seriously.
The residents appeal to the concerned authorities to connect the area with the Tangnar water scheme so that their problem is mitigated.
