Amid snow accumulation, Gujjar Basti in Saimoh Tral deprived of basic facilities

Basharat Rashid

Tral, 11 Jan: As snow blankets Kashmir valley, Gujjar Basti in Saimoh village of Tral sub division in South Kashmir deprived of basic facilities, thereby giving tough time to the residents.

Talking to the Arising State, the aggrieved residents have said that they have been facing immense problems in absence of water supply, while the road leading towards the area is accumulated with snow.

They said that “around ten days have passed since the heavy snowfall was started in the Kashmir valley, but not a single official visited the area to look after the people till the date.”

Mohammad Sulaimaan, a local resident told Arising State that the area has no water supply, following which a tanker was coming to distribute water to the Gujjar Basti residents.

He said that “soon after the snow accumulated on road, tanker stopped its services, due to which locals face hardships and are melting snow now to get water for drinking & other purposes.”

“We have been deprived of all the facilities. The political leaders only come to get votes and have failed to mitigate our problems. For last 10 days, we suffer a lot in absence of water, snow clearance on road and electricity,” Sulaimaan said.

Another resident said that lack of basic amenities have been giving tough time to the people, particularly the students, who face hardships on daily basis.

He said that roads and water supply can be seen everywhere, ‘but not’ in Gujjar Basti Saimoh, which has been ignored by the authorities, as ‘nobody visits’ there to assess the situation.

The residents demanded that all the facilities particularly the water supply and proper road should be given to them at the earliest.

ADC Tral, SA Raina, when contacted, told Arising State that snow clearance machines couldn’t reach there, as the Gujjar Basti area is on the top of the village. He however said that he will try his best to help the people there.

On water crisis, Raina said that efforts are already going to provide them with water supply, and assured that, before June, there will be a potable water supply in Gujjar Basti of Saimoh Tral, under Jal Jeevan Mission.