The Kashmir Pulse

SRINAGAR — Residents of Batamaloo area of central Kashmir's Srinagar district here staged a protest over the acute shortage of water in the locality.

The protesters, mostly women, from Mominabad blocked the road, sat on a dharna, and raised slogans against Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department for almost an hour.

Protesting ladies sat on the road amid scorching heat in a line, forcing the commuters to halt their vehicles.

One of the protesters told the news agency KNT that the Moominabad locality has been facing acute shortage of drinking water and nobody at the helm of affairs is showing interest in addressing the issue.

The protesters said the PHE department has “taken them for a ride, thus leaving no option for them but to stage the protest.”

PULWAMA — Residents of Hakripora village in Kakapora-Newa hamlet in Pulwama district staged a protest on Wednesday against the shortage of drinking water.

The residents told the news agency KNO that their area is without potable water for years now but concerned authorities have been repeatedly ignoring their grievances.

Sameer Ahmad, a local, said that there are few tubewells available in the village and people are forced to use contaminated water from canals.

Locals said that half of the village is already receiving PHE bills even though there is no water facility available.

"So far, we have been only assured but no concrete step has been taken on the ground even though 14 Kanal state land has been kept for the water supply scheme in the area," they said.

They added that there is an issue with the path to the land where the water supply scheme will be established which needs to be cleared but authorities are trying to take the scheme to more villages now.

SRINAGAR — The post of Assistant Executive Engineer has been lying vacant for the last four months in PHE Sub-Division Pulwama, although the department has implemented the appointment of a new engineer under an order but the engineer has not yet been charged.

According to the news agency CNS, PHE Sub-Division Pulwama has been missing the chair of Assistant Executive Engineer for the last four months. Even though the Central government has launched a tap campaign for every house under Jal Jeevan Mission, however, people are still facing a shortage of drinking water in this division.

Local sources said that many engineers have been sitting on the chairs in PHE Division Pulwama for years and they have approved it through collusion with the contractors. A wide series of looting of the government treasury has continued.

Sources said that the charge of the Assistant Executive Engineer in PHE Sub-Division Pulwama is still under Sub-Division Tahab and it is also worth mentioning that in Sub-Division Tahab allegations of massive rigging in the Jal Jeevan Mission are coming to light.

Reliable sources said that the appointment of Assistant Executive Engineer in PHE Sub-Division Pulwama is being kept pending under a well-thought-out plan as few contractors are engaged in colluding with engineers to siphon off crores of rupees from the government exchequer.

Meanwhile, government investigation agencies are unable to draw any attention to it. Sources further said that government rules and regulations have also been disregarded in the estimated funds for the completion of the JJM project.

The local people have also demanded a high-level investigation by the CBI into the irregularities in the Pulwama division.

SRINAGAR — The transfer policy of the Government of Jammu and Kashmir is not applicable to the influential and well-connected Junior Engineers of Jal Shakti Department of Pulwama division.

According to the sources of the department, these engineers are continuing to looting process with the approved contractors in the division and have been able to maintain themselves in the division for more than six years.

As per the rules, a government employee cannot stay at a place of posting for more than two or three years. However, Junior Engineers working in Jal Shakti Division Pulwama and Sub-Division Tahab have been staying in the same division for the last six years.

"To legitimize their long stay in the division and sub-division, what these engineers do is transfer themselves to another sub-division for a few months and later get themselves transferred to the previous division or sub-division,” said a source.

"They do this with the connivance of some senior officers of the department," another source said, adding that some of them have connived with the contractors in this division.

Sources in this department, as per the news agency CNS, revealed that AE Mohd Imran is continuing his position at Sub-Division Tahab and Division Pulwama for more than five years. "While JE Muhammad Maqbool Sheikh and Gulzar Ahmed are also being deputed from Tahab to Pulwama and vice versa."

According to sources in Sub-Division Pulwama, the proof of incompetence is the fact that the engineer posted here, Javed Ahmed Dar and Nazir Ahmad Bhat, were transferred to four places within a period of eight months.

On being contacted, the Chief Engineer of the concerned Jal Shakti Division was not available for comments despite repeated attempts.

SRINAGAR — Inhabitants of the Nai Sadak area of Habba Kadal here on Monday staged a protest against the PHE Department for failing to provide adequate water supply to them during the ongoing holy month of Ramadan.

Scores of women from the locality blocked the main road, causing traffic jam in the area.

“For the last one month, we are not getting an adequate water supply. We have been given assurances multiple times by the authorities, but nothing has been done in this regard,” the protesting women told news agency Kashmir News Trust.

They demanded that Deputy Commissioner (DC) Srinagar and top officials of the concerned department look into the matter and redress their genuine demand at the earliest.