Shopian, Jan 17: Residents of several villages in Shopian district staged a protest demonstration against the Public Health Department (PHE) on Thursday and blocked the road near water supply scheme at Habbad pora village of Shopian district.
They said the already overburdened water supply scheme provides portable drinking water facility to almost 34 villages of Shopian district and the decision of PHE department to add more villages to it will render it useless.
“The PHE department must rethink its decision and provide an alternative for these villages otherwise we will continue our protest,” they added.
One of the protesting residents, Ghulam Mohammad Bhat, said: “The number of households in the villages which rely on this water supply scheme are increasing day by day. The length and width of pipeline, one and a half inch, is same as decades ago and if more villages are connected to it then how can we expect adequate water supply to our villages.”
“We will not allow this injustice to happen at any cost. The department should construct a separate water filtering plant for these villages or it should upgrade the pipeline width and length wise,” he added.
When contacted Executive Engineer PHE shopian he said: “I acknowledge the demands of protesting villagers. I will ask the concerned AEE to make some other alternative for the rest of the villages.”
