Homes with taps but no water: Anantnag village faces water crisis

Sameer Ahmad

Anantnag 08,April: An acute shortage of water supply has been plaguing Zamalgam village in the south Kashmir area of Anantnag District for the past several years , located between the famous tourist resort Verinag and the valley of poets Dooru Shahabad.

Various residents of the village spoke with the Arising State, and they stated that they have appealed to the higher authorities to provide them with drinking water,however, their pleas fell on deaf ears.

The village is about five km from the main town of Dooru Anantnag. At least three hundred families are living in the village and every household has been tapped by the PHE department. In reality, all the taps in the village are dry and not a drop of water has reached the households via the pipes.

According to the residents, the PHE department established the lift water scheme in the village in 2019, but the scheme has so far been inactive, resulting in water shortages for the villagers.

One local resident told the Arising State that the PHE department had taken all the machinery for the water lifting scheme in the village, but they had failed to install it.

Another resident said that the tank was built in 2019 and there are pipelines for almost all houses in the village. But they have remained dry from day one.

There have been several inspections by officials, which all concluded with the assurance of delivery of water. ‘Promises ought to be kept – and if they cannot be kept, they shouldn’t have been made in the first place,” said aghasted villagers.

Meanwhile, talking to Arising state AEE PHE Dooru Mohd Rafiq said that the problem of water scarcity in village is going to be solved soon as the department is trying its best to solve the problem in village. He said that they would complete the project within one month and assured that the villagers would get relief soon.