Tale of two underdeveloped Villages of Kupwara
By: Muhammad Adnan
Langate: In Kunnel village, the electricity wires hang down on poplars and women folk pump in at the tube well to fetch drinking water in absence of potable drinking water supply from the government. Besides, the potholed road welcomes you with its shabby and muddy looks.
The village is located at a distance of around 10 kilometers from Baramulla – Kupwara Highway.
The village in Qaziabad Tehsil of Kupwara district has remained the victim of official apathy in terms of development.
“All the households have dug their own tube wells to manage the daily supply of drinking water as the successive regimes have failed to provide potable drinking water facility (tap water) to the villagers here,” said a local resident.
The situation depicts the dismal performance of the Jal Shakti department in providing water facilities to the areas.
“Barring construction of a few inner link roads in the past few months, the area has not seen any sign of development since the last many decades,” another resident said.
A single visit to the village depicts the indifferent attitude of the past governments towards the village which lacks proper drainage and sanitation facilities as well
The locals lambasted the Jal Shakti department for not making a water supply scheme functional which was ironically launched in 2006.
“We have craved for hygienic drinking water from past many years but no one listens to our miseries,” the locals lamented.
Besides drinking water facilities, the village lacks the facilities of electric poles with LT and HT lines remaining tangled on wooden poles.
“It seems our village has been removed from the developmental map,” the residents said.
At a distance of around one kilometer from Kunnel, falls Tangwara village which represents a fragile thread of official neglect.
Besides the poor drainage and other basic facilities, the link roads connecting with the highways have remained out of focus of the concerned authorities.
Surprisingly, the residents put forth the demand for up-gradation of the link road in the last Back to Village programmes. But there has been no change on the ground till date.
The electric wires in this village as well remain hung over the poplars or broken wooden poles of minimum height leaving the lives of residents at risk.
Meanwhile, a top official in district administration Kupwara said they have taken up the massive project for construction of new roads besides augmentation of inner links as well. He said the link roads of every village will be upgraded.
“A receiving station has already been made almost functional in the area and new wires have been laid as well. The grievances regarding non-availability of drinking water facility will be looked into,” he added.
KV Correspondent
