WE THE PEOPLE
Despite tall Official claims, Gowtapora, other adjoining villages lack Basic Necessities of Life
Hence Villagers seek Div Com’s intervention, demand uninterrupted Power Supply, Safe Drinking water and upgradation of Road
By: By: Shirjeel/ Meer Altaf
Srinagar: On the one hand, the State Government has been emphasizing on improvement of standard of living of the people of the State, especially when sufficient funds have reportedly been allotted under Prime Minister’s Reconstruction Plan, but on the other thousands of villagers living in the villagers of Gagarpora, Malersunri, Chirpora, Marglar, Gowtapora and Wadwan are without basic facilities of life. The villagers have been moving from pillar to post to get proper road connectivity for the last several years, but all their efforts have yielded no results so far. Lack of road connectivity has effected education of school and college going students besides employees are also unable to reach their places of destinations on time. Many pregnant ladies have reportedly died as they could not be shifted to maternity hospitals on time. The villagers are also facing lot of inconvenience for want of dependable electricity which plays hide and seek, affecting their normal life quite adversely. They are without safe drinking water supply and are forced to consume untreated water which has resulted in the outbreak of several water-borne diseases in the villagers so far.
Effective road connectivity can make a significant dent on rural poverty as roads are life-line to new markets and new opportunities. Even a narrow road connecting a remote village or a habitation to new markets can become a highway to the prosperity. Therefore, Government of India launched Bharat Nirman Programme which was supposed to ensure that every village in the country has access to markets, to services, to opportunities and to improve the overall condition of the villages. According to the Programme, 146185 kilometres of road lengths were earmarked to benefit 66802 habitations by 2009. From Panchayats to members of Parliament from the area are involved in the implementation of this Programme. Apart from Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Mahrashtra, Punjab and Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir also fall under this Programme. Although other States have made remarkable progress in the implementation of the said Programme, yet Jammu and Kashmir is to make a dent as is evident from the scores of villages under report lacking basic necessities of life.
“Many roads were taken up for execution in Budgam district, but the road connecting Gagarpora to Wadwan has remained unattended and completely neglected so far. The road length is only a few kilometres which could have been upgraded since long and why it has been ignored is beyond our comprehension. We feel that we are not properly represented in the State Legislature as other MLAs have done much in their respective constituencies. We have all along met a step-motherly treatment for the reasons not known. Lack of upgradation of the road has made our lives quite miserable. We do not reach our destinations on time which has affected our normal activities to the hilt. Young children and female-folk are hard hit not only due to road, but untreated water has affected their health quite adversely. Jaundice broke out several times in our villages so far and took a heavy toll of infants and imbecile. Frequent interruptions in power have affected studies of school and college going students to the hilt. All our efforts to attract the attention of the concerned officials have failed and now we have lost hope in the day to day announcements of the Government of having launched massive construction programme in the State. If crores and crores of rupees are being spent on development works, then why our villages stand neglected and ignored”, said a group of residents of the said villages.
Hence the villagers have sought intervention by the Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, who is known for his efficiency and pro-people policy. They have appealed him to look into their problems and hope appropriate steps shall be taken to mitigate their sufferings without any further delay.
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