Udhampur residents protest water scarcity

Our Correspondent

Udhampur, June 11

Residents under the banner of the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party on Tuesday organised a “Matka Fod Rally” against water scarcity in Udhampur. Protesters broke earthen pots on the road to lodge their protest.

Residents of various wards in the city took out a rally and later staged a protest against the Public Health Engineering Department decrying severe water crisis and failure of the department at Gole Market. They demanded immediate supply of drinking water.

They said water had not been supplied in many areas for the past two months. Women also raised hygiene issue in the area because of the shortage of water.

“We have to buy water from private suppliers. We remained silent during the elections as leaders assured as that we will not face any problem. Now elections are over, so there is nobody to take care of us,” said Raj Kumar, a local.

Former MLA Balwant Singh Mankotia said the Panthers Party had repeatedly submitted memorandums and staged several protests over water crisis in Udhampur for the last four years, but the department had turned a blind eye.