Kishtwar residents demand J&K govt to provide basic amenities

Residents of nearly a dozen villages in Thakraie belt of Kishtwar district today threatened to launch an agitation if the Jammu and Kashmir government failed to provide them with basic facilities such as roads and electricity.
The residents of these villages alleged that successive governments have so far failed to provide them with basic facilities like road, potable water and electricity.
"We are being forced to come on roads and protest as our repeated pleas to the authorities concerned to provide us with the basic facilities have fallen on deaf ears," retired army captain Om Prakash said.
The residents further claimed that in 2009, the authorities gave approval for a 13-km Fardain-Shanna link road but work on it was abandoned midway.

"For us it is a matter of life and death. Whenever it rains it becomes dangerous for vehicles to ply on this roads. So, we have to carry our patients on our back to the hospital," Sarpanch of Shanna village Jagdish Raj Shan said.
Shan said around 10,000 residents of a dozen villages were affected due to the absence of the road in the area.

The residents alleged that politicians promised to get the road constructed during elections but the issue was pushed under the carpet after the polls got over.
"We appeal to Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to have mercy on the people of this belt and get the road constructed at the earliest as we have lost our hopes on local leaders, who just exploit us for our votes," local social activist Sagar Chand said.

Repeated attempts to contact local MLA G M Saroori proved to be futile.