Srinagar, 27 July: Locals in Ajas village of North kashmir’s bandipora district in large numbers have fallen ill due to alleged gross negligence of PHE department as the water being supplied to them is allegedly being contaminated by cow dung, dead animal bodies and the domestic wast.
Locals of the area while talking to news agency Kashmir dot Com -(KDC) alleged that there is no watch & ward of the service reservoir of the area and the raw water being collected in a fish pond type collection “chamber” which has been recently constructed by the departmental gang by earth- filled bags from where it is supplied to the local populace without any filtration.
Locals further said that though the department has been kind enough to start the construction of a filtration plant after 40 years of establishment of the said water supply scheme but the work is going on a snails pace.
Pertinently, Eight years before a pre-settling tank was also constructed which got collapsed on the day it had to be inaugurated and the then district administration had promised a thorough probe in to the matter but the enquiry report has yet to be made public.
People of the area are aghast over the mis-management of the water supply scheme and are apprehensive of large scale bunglings and the consequent hush up of the scam.
Locals also alleged that the local employees deployed on the W.S.S(water supply scheme) have been left in lurch by not being supplied with any disinfectants by the departmental authorities which has heavily taken toll on the health condition of the populace.
“Locals of the area are being supplied contaminated Water”, they alleged.
They have urged the authorities to immediately look in the matter and redress their genuine grievances.
However, Medical Superintendent NTPHC Ajas told KDC that we have taken samples from both water supply scheme and other water bodies and sent them for testing, and report has not been received yet, it may not be convenient to say that it is a water borne disease ,we should wait for results of samples.
“Apart from that we advised people of random testing for Covid-19, but it seems that they are not willing to come forward for that, let’s now wait for the sample results, only then after we can decide is it really a water borne disease” he added. (KDC)
