20 villages cut-off from B’pora
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People demand construction of bridge on Athwatoo nallah
Mir Tariq Bandipora, June 7The inhabitants of at least 20 villages of Athwatoo and Sumlar Gujjarpati area are totally cut-off from district headquarters due to non-availability of the bridge. The fast flowing water in nallah at Attwatoo has already claimed several lives during past few years. Among the casualties were the schools going children and women.
The villagers alleged that despite repeated representations, the authorities have shut their eyes to the problems confronted by about 10,000 inhabitants living in these areas. The cut-off villages include Tanghat, Vewan, Herpora in Athwatooo side and Kudar, Kuta, Satri, Serandar, Chuntimulla on Sumlar-Gujarpati side. The villagers have erected wooden poles over the nallah to ‘facilitate’ crossing to the other side. However, it poses great threat to their lives. The school children have to cross the bridge daily and as such remain always vulnerable.“Government has left us high and dry. They have not made any effort to redress our long pending grievance. The political leaders have been playing with our sentiments. They have never shown any sincerity in pursuing our cause and pressurizing the administration to facilitate the movement of people by constructing bridge,” said Fazal-ur-Rehman. He added, “People of the affected villages approached the district administration time and again and pleaded with them to construct the bridge, but of no avail”. Jalal-ud-Din Khan said, “The gushing waters have so far claimed 15 lives. The risk factor always remains involved while crossing the existent bridge clinging on wooden poles. School children are vulnerable to dangers as they have to cross the gushing waters everyday”. He said that the residents are unable to ferry the ailing persons to Bandipora for treatment due to non availability of bridge over the nallah. The residents of the affected villages complained that due to the non-availability of the bridge, the patients are not taken to District Hospital Bandipora for treatment. “Many persons have died because they could not be shifted to hospital on time” they said, adding, “No healthcare centre exists in our villages and as such we have to shift the patients to Bandipora for treatment”.The residents claimed that education sector has been badly hit due to non-existent of bridge on Nallah. “To avoid mishap, people refrain from sending their wards to schools. People don’t want their near and dear ones to cross the bridge, which always poses threat to them”, said Mohammad Jamal, an elderly person.He added, “We had requested the authorities to upgrade at least one primary school in the eight affected villages to enable children continue their studies, but strangely our pleas were not conceded”.The residents fear that the threat to their lives has increased as the snow is melting in upper reaches and water level originating from Harmukh foot hills has gone up alarmingly. They demanded that the government should construct the bridge on the nallah to facilitate hassle-free movement of people. When contacted, District Commissioner Bandipora, Shiekh Mushtaq told Rising Kashmir that the issue was taken up during this year’s board meeting of the district. “We have sent a proposal to government for the construction of bridge on Arin and Athwatoo nallahs. After receiving sanction from the government, the construction work will be started”.