WE THE PEOPLE
Problems of thousands of Wanabal, Old Rawalpora residents continue to remain unattended
They urge authorities to provide them road connectivity and drainage facilities without any further delay
By: Safwan Khan
Srinagar: Despite oft-repeated protests by thousands of Wanabal and Old Rawalpora residents, their problems remain unaddressed and they continue to suffer beyond description.
We have also been highlighting their issues as their problems have reason due to laying of Railway Line in their areas. The Railway track has completely disrupted their lines of communication and brought them face to face with severe hardships. Their demands remain unattended despite this Newspaper having highlighted and projected their problems two months back, but the concerned officials seem to have turned a Nelson’s eye towards them. They don’t crave for luxuries, but seek redressal of their genuine grievances.
It needs to be mentioned that immediately after installation of Railway Track in Kashmir Valley, people expected that it would bring relief and end their miseries, but thousands of people living in Railway Colony Rawalpora-Wanabal have been deprived of basic necessities of life. People in large numbers were shifted to either side of the Railway Track in the year 2001, while their residential houses pulled down with the promise that they would be properly rehabilitated but it has not happened and people in large numbers continue to crave for drinking water, effective road connectivity, irrigation and drainage systems. A small shower of rain is enough to drown and submerge the locality, thereby immobilizing and bringing all their activities to a grinding halt. They had been promised macadamized roads, power supply and other essential services but stand deprived of such facilities. Besides an age-old canal known as Chek Kul stands encroached by the Railway Track, thereby resulting in disrupting irrigation facilities to their paddy-growing areas in a big way.
It is a fact that Central Financial Assistance has been pouring into the State quite massively and it was expected that the Valley of Kashmir would wear a healthy look and most of the problems faced by people would be addressed to their satisfaction. But it has not happened and areas like the ones cited above continue to reel under the shadows of dissatisfaction. Six crore areas of infrastructure development had been identified under the Bharat Nirman Programme for implementation in a time bound manner. Under this Programme, the basic infrastructure earmarked had to be changed by the year 2009 to bring basic amenities to the doorsteps of the people of the country. The basic facilities being irrigation, drinking water supply rural electrification and rural telephone connectivity. As far as irrigation is concerned, it has been decided to connect all habitations having a population of 1000 with all weather roads. Provision of safe drinking water to all villages and habitations in the country. Providing electricity connection to two crore thirty lakh households by 2009, construction of sixty lakh houses for the rural poor and to bring telephone connectivity to those not connected so far.
Therefore, there is great need for a state like ours that the Programme is implemented by the government through Panchayati Raj Bodies. It is not a programme for the state governments alone but it is an agenda for every body-for trade and industry, for farmers, artisans, social workers and every single countryman, whether a user or a partner in the task of nation building. It is viewed that Bharat Nirman Programme is an effort to unlock rural growth potential. The targets set out in each of the six crore areas are quite ambitious and as such there should have been no difficulty in providing basic necessities to the residents of Rawalpora and Wanabal. The inhabitants are well positioned and well placed in a district and there should have been no difficulty for the district administration to resolve their issues.
Therefore, the authorities of the Railway Department and District Administration must take cognizance of their problems and address them with a high sense of urgency so that their sufferings are mitigated without any further delay.
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