Water-borne diseases plague Anantnag villages due to Gulab Bagh supply scheme

Water-borne diseases plague Anantnag villages due to Gulab Bagh supply scheme

‘200 people fell sick a day ahead of Eid’

Anantnag: Uncovered water storage and lack of a filtration system at Gulab Bagh water supply scheme in Hillar Shahabad in Anantnag district have been triggering repeated disease outbreaks in more than half a dozen villages – the latest being on Saturday wherein more than 200 people fell sick in the area.
The Gulab Bagh water supply scheme came into being some four years ago, after the natural water springs in the Hillar Shahabad area dried up because of a railway tunnel constructed in the area.
“Luckily, water started coming out of the tunnel and that is what is the source for this new water supply scheme,” residents of the area told Kashmir Reader.
They said that this water supply scheme caters to villages including Hillar, Shahabad, Pranigam, Ujroo, Nai Basti, Chaan Mohalla, Gujjar Basti, the Toll Plaza area, and some other villages.
The water coming out of the tunnel, they said, is collected in a storage space in Pranigam and is then lifted to the overhead tank.
“The problem is that the storage space is uncovered and every kind of filth is accumulated in it – sometimes even dead animals – making the water unfit for human consumption,” the residents said.
They said that a temporary solution could be to cover the storage space but the permanent solution is a filtration plant. “The authorities are doing nothing, though, forcing us to consume this contaminated water every single day of the year,” the locals said.
As a result, these villages are facing frequent outbreaks of water-borne diseases. Their Eid this time was also subdued because an outbreak of intestinal infection gripped these villages, making hundreds sick.
“More than two-hundred people fell sick,” the locals said, adding that medics rushed to these villages and administered medicine and other required things to the locals.
The employees of the Jal Shakti department in the area immediately cleaned up the storage space of the water supply and chlorinated the water. “It took a few days for the outbreak to subside,” the locals said, adding that this was not the first time they have faced such an outbreak.
The locals alleged that the higher-ups were sleeping over their plight, while the lower rung employees of the Jal Shakti department have been coming to their rescue time and again.
“We are yet again making a fervent appeal to the administration. They should do something to make things easier for us, or the people of this far-flung godforsaken area or we will keep falling sick time and again,” Farooq Ahmad, a local trade union leader, told Kashmir Reader.
He said that the administration has to look into this before a major mishap takes place in these villages, and, God forbid, lives are lost.
Kashmir Reader talked to the Chief Engineer at the Jal Shakti Department, Basharat Ahmad, who assured that he will look into the matter. “I will see what our department can do to address the problem and get it done,” the chief engineer said.

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