Locals pool resources to build road in Anantnag’s Hapatnad
Seek govt support for construction of safety walls
Anantnag: In a striking example of community resilience, residents of Gujjar Basti in Nag Bal Hapatnad area of Anantnag district have taken it upon themselves to construct an internal road through crowd funding.
The initiative comes after years of repeated pleas to authorities yielded no concrete results, forcing locals to act collectively to address their long-pending demand.
According to residents, the locality had been deprived of a proper road for decades, making daily life extremely difficult—especially for elderly people, women, school-going children and patients.
During rains, the area would turn muddy and slippery, while summers brought clouds of dust, further aggravating health and mobility issues.
“We waited patiently for years, approached officials and representatives many times, but nothing moved on the ground,” said Abdul Rashid, a local resident.
“Finally, we decided that instead of waiting endlessly, we would pool our own money and build the road ourselves. Every household contributed whatever little it could afford.”
Another resident, Mohammad Yousuf, said the road construction is being carried out entirely through community contributions, despite most families struggling to make ends meet.
“This is a Gujjar-dominated area and most of us are daily wagers or marginal earners. Still, people contributed because a road is a basic necessity. But our resources are limited,” he said.
While welcoming the spirit of collective effort, the residents have now appealed to the government to step in and provide protective boundary walls (safety bands) along the newly constructed road, particularly near residential houses and steep edges.
“We can somehow manage to construct the road, but building protection walls is beyond our capacity,” said Shabir Ahmad, another local. “Without boundary walls, there is a serious risk of accidents, especially for children and during the night. We fear that one mishap could turn this relief into a tragedy.”
Locals stressed that the mohalla is inhabited by a poor and vulnerable community, and the absence of safety infrastructure puts lives and property at constant risk.
“The government should see this as a humanitarian issue,” said a group of residents. “We have done our part despite poverty and hardship. Now it is the responsibility of the authorities to ensure safety by constructing boundary walls and completing the remaining works.”
The residents urged the district administration and concerned departments to visit the area, assess the ground situation, and provide immediate assistance.
They hope that their self-help initiative will prompt the government to finally address their long-ignored concerns and ensure basic infrastructure with adequate safety measures for the locality.
