Rehan Showkat
Srinagar: People of Halmatpora belt comprising of many villages are in up in arms against PHE department for failure to restore the potable water supply to them from last two months. The people are made to drink contaminated water from a nearby nallah from which the carcass of a dog was found on Thursday evening.
The locals said that they are suffering from many waterborne diseases.
“The carcass of the dog was lying in the nallah adjacent to Kumar Mohalla for so many days and was spotted by locals yesterday. Besides, the water is completely contaminated and we are forced to drink the water as PHE has failed to restore potable supply from last more than two months,” the locals said and urged authorities to treat them as humans.
The residents had also staged a protest on Tuesday against the department of public health engineering (PHE) against the non-availability of drinking water in the area.
The protesters including women and children blocked the Haihama-Kupwara road due to which traffic movement was disrupted for some time. The protesters were demanding the restoration of the water supply in the area which is blocked for the last two months.
The areas which are severely affected by the shortage of drinking water include Bungam, Gonipora, Khanpora, Hajam Mohalla, Mir Mohalla, Chalgund and Kumar Mohalla.
“We have no drinking water for past two months. We are forced to drink dirty water from nearby streams. The department is sleeping” the protesters had said.
Scores of persons most of them elderly and children are suffering from Gastroenteritis diseases including vomiting.
A senior doctor and an expert had termed the consumption of stream water as unsafe.
“It is unsafe for human consummation as the water in streams is loaded with bacteria,” he had said.
The patients may also have the fever and its continue consumption can lead to jaundice and Hepatitis, the doctor had said.
He had urged the people to boil the water or 10-15 minutes so that the bacteria in it will die. (GNS)
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