BARAMULLA: The residents of Shaltang village of Narvaw in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district staged a protest against the non availability of portable drinking water in their area on Wednesday.
Witnesses said that local people mostly the women of Shaltang village of Narvaw Baramulla took into the streets on Wednesday and staged a protest against the department of Jal Shakti (PHE) who according to protesters fail to provide them portable drinking water, protesters staged the protest near the village along the Baramulla Uri highway for some time.
Protesters alleged that their taps are running dry from past three months and the employees of the department are absconding. They said they requested the concerned department many times to restore their pipeline but they are not paying any attention and forced people to use the water of nearby canal or river Jhelum.
The protesting women shouting slogans threatened that if they (department) will not repair their pipeline they will block the highway and the department will be its responsibility.
An official of the department said that people in upper villages are using water for irrigation of their fields and kitchen gardens, due to which water could not reach in lower areas, now we installed a separate line for this village but it is incomplete due to shortage of some funds, as the government releases these we will complete the pending portion as soon as possible.

Reader correspondent