People of border village forced to drink river water

Women fetching water from river as there is no supply of drinking water to Mankote village in Poonch.
Women fetching water from river as there is no supply of drinking water to Mankote village in Poonch.

Excelsior Correspondent

MENDHAR, Jan 2: While the Government claims that there will hardly be any corner in the country where people do not get piped drinking water, the ground reality in Jammu and Kashmir is a bit different.
People are compelled to drink river water in the rural areas of Mankot tehsil of Mendhar sub-division of Poonch district, which are adjacent to the Indo-Pak Line of Control (LoC).
There are many such villages of Mankot tehsil where there is no water supply. Water tanks were made to supply water by the Jal Shakti Department but all of them are stalled due to which people are not getting water.
On the other hand, a natural spring was the only source of water for the people but that too has dried up. In such a situation, people are very upset and are living by drinking the water of the river.
The aggrieved villagers in Mankot today demonstrated against the Sub Division administration. The protesters alleged that there was no supply of drinking water in their village for the last three months. “We approached the Jal Shakti Department many times, but no action was taken over our request,” they said.
Serving an ultimatum of 7 days to the administration over their demand, the protesting villagers appealed Lt Governor Manoj Sinha to look into their grievance and address the same.