Landslide disrupts water supply to three villages in Shopian, Pulwama
Over 500 households affected; residents demand urgent restoration
Shopian: A landslide in Darbagh area of south Kashmir’s Shopian district has severely disrupted the water supply to at least three villages, leaving hundreds of households without potable water for the past several days.
The affected villages include Rakh Zahid Bagh in Pulwama district and Darbagh in Shopian district, where residents say the situation has forced them to fetch it from far-off locations.
“We have been struggling for basic drinking water for nearly a week now. This is not just an inconvenience; it’s affecting our daily lives, cooking, and hygiene,” said Abdul Rashid, a resident of Rakh Zahid Bagh.
Locals estimate that around 500 households have been hit by the disruption. “Our children are falling sick because we are forced to use contaminated . The authorities must treat this as an emergency,” said Shabnam Jan, a resident of Darbagh.
According to residents, the disruption was caused when a landslide damaged around 15 water supply pipes, cutting off the main supply line to these villages.
A senior official from the Jal Shakti Department confirmed the incident. “The landslide has damaged nearly 15 pipes in the Darbagh area. Our teams are already on the ground, and we expect the restoration work to be completed by this weekend,” the official said.
Meanwhile, locals have appealed to the district administrations of both Pulwama and Shopian to speed up the restoration process and put in place preventive measures to avoid such disruptions in the future.
“This is not the first time that our water supply line has got affected as earlier thieves stolen machinery and many other incidents have put impact on the line. The department should take long-term steps, like securing the pipelines in landslide-prone areas and take other steps as well for avoiding burglary issues,” said Ghulam Hassan, another local resident.
