|| BASHARAT RASHID
People here in Tral hamlet of South Kashmir’s Pulwama district are all up in arms over dilapidated roads, interrupted power supply, shortage of medicines in hospitals and lack of advanced medical infrastructure in the area since decades. People in the town have been facing immense hardships from long time especially those living in forest areas due to the non-availability of basic amenities in the vicinity. Inhabitants argue that Tral has been ignored by all the previous regimes and has become politically orphaned since 90’s.
Despite government claims of providing quality road network to people in the state, the majority of roads here are in shambles giving tough time to daily commuters and pedestrians alike. Dilapidated roads give tough times to people especially in Mandoora, Gulashanpora, Kahlil, Machama, Panzoo, P astuna a nd o ther a reas a nd which were not repaired since years, thus become accident prone, causing immense hardships to the people.
“The Nawdal-Awantipora road that connects Tral with Srinagar and other parts of Kashmir like Anantnag and Pulwama is in shambles due to which commuters face so many problems ,” said Aamir Majeed, a resident of Tral. People allege that almost all roads in Tral including Kahlil, Nagapathri, Wazilkulnaar, Tral-Nagbal, Machama, Mandoora and Pastuna road continue to be in pathetic state. They said the roads are dotted with potholes and give tough time to the commuters especially the school going children’s .
“I don’t remember when the roads were last blacktopped in our area as I always witnessed the same condition of roads since my childhood,” said a student of PASTUNA Tral who is studying in Tral Main. “Tral constituency has been totally neglected by all the successive governments on developmental front,” he added. Several bridges got damaged due to 2014 floods, bridge at Chankitar which connects people to the main Tral area and Shaldraman area still unrepaired. Erratic power supply also add salt to injury in the area especially the students preparing for different competitive exams , the residents expressed resentment over unscheduled power cuts in some areas of Tral town .
“I don’t remember when the roads were last blacktopped in our area as I always witnessed the same condition of roads since my childhood,” said a student of PASTUNA Tral who is studying in Tral Main.
Areas receive power supply only for few hours with frequent cuts. We even face erratic power cut-offs during the time when we have to receive electricity according to PDD schedule. It is better for the authorities to keep electricity off for this town ”, locals said. Regarding all these matters, The Locals so far have complained to concerned authorties and MLA Tral couple of times but nothing has been done so far as the problems remained constant . Wazelkulnaar , a Village situated 9 kilometers away from Tehsil headquarter is lacking basic facilities like electricity, drinking water and link road.
It is the only village in the area without electricity. A special kind of wood (Leash) is used by the villagers to enlighten their homes during night. Students of the village are more effected by unavailability of electricity. In 2011, a road from Lalpora to Wazulkulnar via Nagapathri was constructed under PMGSY but still not still craves for attention. People are affected with various diseases due to regular use of highly contaminated water in the area. Now, coming to Sub District Hospital Tral, it is being debated that this hospital can cater whole area when it will work without any hindrance. People mostly alleged that doctors of the hospital prefer private practice and to save their time they refer every case to Srinagar which is totally injustice for the people.
Erratic power supply also add salt to injury in the area especially the students preparing for different competitive exams , the residents expressed resentment over unscheduled power cuts in some areas of Tral town .Areas receive power supply only for few hours with frequent cuts.
There is scarcity of Doctors in the Hospital since decades and patients usually continues to Suffer as they have to wait for hours to consult the Doctor. The inhabitants of Tral Sub District have appealed concerned authorities to look into the problems and address them in time bound manner. On the other side, There is a Cannal in Tral which supplies water to number of villages for agricultural purposes is also in bad state. A number of villages like Nahir- Khasipora, Chatrogam, Bajwani, in Tral area of South Kashmir’s Pulwama dis trict face local flood threat every year during Summer months due to overflowing of water in a nearby irrigation canal.
There is loads of waste, trees branches and other debris accumulated in the canal. Due to presence of these wastes and soil, the canal has become narrow now which results in overflow of water which causes local floods. The canal provides water for the paddy fields of at least 25 villages of the sub district including Panzoo, Chatrogam, Pinglish, Reshipora, Bajwani, Hafoo, Hayuna and Chew Ullar. The aggrieved locals said the canal, which supplies water to nearby paddy fields, has been overflowing into residential area from the past few years posing threat to the locals and also to paddy fields. “The problem is evident during rains.
We have many times apprised the Irrigation and Flood Control authorities about this grave situation in our areas, but they have failed to redress our grievances,” said Mohammad Munawar Shah , a local resident while talking Kashmir Leader. Earlier, Assistant Executive Engineer Irrigation and Flood Control Department Tral, Gh Nabi Zargar, had assured that after getting funds, the work will be started on the canal but nothing has been done so far. The Tral town also has been turned into a garbage dumping site with heaps of garbage present on the roadside from Bus Stand Tral to Girls Higher Secondary School and from Aabgar to Tehsil office and Uptown Sumo Stand as well . According to locals, the garbage being dumped by traders and municipality employees emanates foul smell making the pedestrian movement difficult and has also become the breeding ground for dogs.
The road leading to Sub district hospital Tral via Civil lines also hit by garbages which is giving tough time to the residents. The residents of nearby localities allege that the employees of the Tral Municipal Committee collect garbage from the interiors of the town dump it in the bus stand Tral, and Uptown area. “The garbage emanates foul smell and has become health hazard for the people. It also attracts dogs, cattle, crows and even vultures, who often attack and injured the children and passerby,” the residents added.
In 2011, a road from Lalpora to Wazulkulnar via Nagapathri was constructed under PMGSY but still not still craves for attention. People are affected with various diseases due to regular use of highly contaminated water in the area.
“We are not able to open the doors of our homes and our children are not able to venture into the market freely due to threat of dogs and vultures,” said a resident of Tral adding that though Tral Municipal Corporation (TMC) had a garbage dumping site in Bajwani and other places, its employees were still dumping the waste material in the town creating immense hardships for the people. Azhar Bashir told Kashmir Leader. The people also claimed that the dogs in the area had become ferocious and had bitten so many people in different area of Tral since last year. Women residents said that they did not allow their children to play outside during the holidays fearing stray dog bite in all the areas of Tral especially in main town Tral .
Meanwhile, People blamed that MLA Tral have turned blind eye towards all the problems and said that common people continuously to face hardships in the town. The people requested the authorities especially to MLA Tral Mushtaq Ahmad Shah to save the constituency which is on ventilator since long time due to Govt’s apathy.
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