Baramulla: In an unprecedented administrative shake-up, the recent mass transfer of employees in the Jal Shakti (PHE) Department, Baramulla Division, has triggered a full-blown drinking water crisis across several remote and marginalised villages, leaving thousands of residents desperate and without access to safe water.
According to locals from Gulistan, Hardukhal, Paldaji, Goriwan, Khal Bala, and Namblan, the department abruptly transferred all field staff responsible for water supply in the region—without deploying any replacements. As a result, not a single official remains on the ground to operate or maintain the water systems. The few contractual workers who remain have reportedly refused to take charge of duties, citing lack of orders or support.
“This is not just carelessness. This is discrimination,” said a visibly distressed elder from Gulistan. “We belong to backward and tribal communities—Gujars, Bakarwals, STs, SCs—who have always been left behind. But now, even our basic right to water is being taken away.”
With no alternative arrangements in place, villagers—many of them elderly women and children—are now walking 10 to 12 kilometers daily** to fetch water from natural sources. The situation is equally grim in local government schools, where children are being made to spend their school hours without drinking water.
“This isn’t just a crisis, it’s a violation of our dignity,” said a school teacher from Khal Bala. “The administration wouldn’t dare do this in urban areas. Why are only backward villages treated with such apathy?”
Local voices are calling it a glaring example of **administrative negligence and systemic inequality, urging urgent intervention from the Lieutenant Governor, local MLAs, Deputy Commissioner Baramulla, and higher authorities in the Jal Shakti Department.
The affected residents have made a heartfelt appeal to media houses to raise their voices and highlight the injustice.
“This is not merely a technical lapse. It’s a human rights violation,” reads their written statement. “We trust the media will echo our plea and shake the conscience of those in power,” copy of written statement issued to media by the deligation reads.
