Budgam’s Wagoora residents protest against PHE

Budgam: Scores of residents from Wagoora village of central Kashmir’s Budgam district on Friday gathered to protest against the Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department for showing their ‘apathy towards facilitating people with drinking water and betraying people with fake promises’ for laying down the new pipelines approved for the village.

Gathered protesters showed their resentment after raising slogans against PHE Department and demanded for the immediate action on the sanctioned work of laying water pipelines in the village.

“Despite approaching umpteen times for the laying of drinking water pipelines, the concerned authorities do not pay any heed towards our grievances,” stated Abdul Rashid, Numberdar of the village.

He alleged that the tender is allotted, and the contractor is selected for laying new pipelines in the village that are already approved for Wagoora but the concerned PHE authorities are seen as the biggest hindrance in performing this task. Adding further, he alleged that these are the PHE authorities who every time betray the residents by making fake promises.

Wagoora village comprises of more than 700 households and the pipelines laid here with a purpose to facilitate the people with drinking water are believed to be laid four decades ago.

The protesters alleged that after complaining several times, new pipelines were sanctioned for the village and the contractor who was to lay these pipelines was also chosen but the concerned PHE authorities are proving themselves to be the biggest interruption in carrying out this task.

“Every day we are compelled to go to another colony and wait hours for our turn to get the pots filled with drinking water as we have no water point available in our colony,” narrates, Kounsara Banoo, a resident of village Wagoora. Adding further, she said that water shortage has left the whole village in misery.

“Drinking water is the basic necessity of the life and government is making tall claims for facilitating people with basic needs but the apathy towards us is the proof how government betrays common people,” alleged, one of the protesters.

Another protester, Bashir Ahmad said that people of the village have never seen water coming from taps of the pipelines that have been laid four decades ago. He said, “We are compelled to drink the tube well water which is found full of iron and this water has become the main cause of several diseases”.

While demanding the immediate action for the commencement of the work for laying already approved new pipelines, the protesters urged upon the concerned ministry to look into the matter.