Pulwama residents suffer as water supply scheme goes defunct, allege locals
Pulwama: The residents of Rakh, Zahid Bagh and Darbagh villages in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district are suffering as water supply scheme in the area has gone defunct a few days back, locals alleged Thursday.
They also demanded the up-gradation of water supply scheme in the area as the existing scheme unable to cater to these villages.
The residents of the Zahid Bagh and Rakh said that they are without potable water supply for the last four days as the supply scheme has gone defunct.
They said that a water supply scheme for the area was constructed 12 years back for around 250 households but later one more village was added to the scheme.
They said that since 2014 part of these villages was getting water from the water supply scheme, however, dozens of householders were yet to be connected with the scheme.
The locals added that recently many households were connected with the scheme but now the scheme is unable to cater to the whole population.
Javid Ahmad, a resident of Zahid Bagh said that they were recently connected with the scheme but the water supply remains available for just half an hour and the flow too is very low.
He said that the scheme that was constructed for 250 households has to cater to more than 500 households.
The locals said that the existing water source must be kept for Darbagh village that is part of the Shopian district while a new pump should be installed as new source for Zahidbagh and Rakh villages so that all can get proper drinking water facility.
Ghulam Mohammad, another local resident said that those villagers who are connected with the scheme aren’t getting portable water as the water isn’t being filtered properly despite authorities claiming that the filtration plant is functioning.
They said that scheme is facing snags frequently as it continues to remain non-functional for the past five days as well.
They said that transformer of the scheme has got damaged around four days back and since then no water is being processed to cater to the villages dependent on the scheme.
Locals said that they have brought this issue into the notice of concerned authorities several times but to no avail.
They requested higher ups to look into the matter and restore the scheme besides take steps for having a separate water source for Zahidbagh and Rakh villages.
Meanwhile, an official of the concerned department said that the transformer of the scheme had developed some snag that was replaced on Thursday and water supply will be restored by Friday morning.
