Shopian: Commissioned in 1980s, water supply scheme at Safnagri village of Shopian yet to be completed while a large number of inhabitants in the area face water scarcity since decades.
Locals said that they have no water to drink and are forced to use water from far away contaminated canals and wells which have been declared unsafe by the authorities.
Javid Ahmad Dar a local, told Kashmir Reader that he wasn’t born when the scheme was initiated in the village and is still languishing due to unknown reasons . “In my childhood , I came to know that the scheme has developed some snag due to which it can’t supply drinking water to our village and neighbouring villages,” he said.
Locals informed that more than a decade ago work on another scheme at the same spot was started by the government but it also didn’t complete. “Since last four decades we are having been facing drinking water problems but despite repeated protests and media coverage on the issue no attention was given to the problems of locals,” Muhammad Khalil another elderly villager said .
They said that hundreds of lacs of rupees were spent on this scheme,however its earlier project gone dysfunctional a new scheme launched is still languishing.
According to official sources the said scheme is meant to provide drinking water supply to around a half dozen localities comprising thousands of souls in the area.
Executive engineer Public Health Engineering Department, Irfan Ul Islam told Kashmir Reader that the scheme is almost complete but some mechanical works are pending. “These workers need specialised workers who come from other states of India and they couldn’t come due to lockdown and we served a notice to the contractor who informed that the workers will arrive this week,” he said while assuring that the scheme will be completed within a few months.

Raashid Hassan