Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU June 15: The residents of various localities of Ward Number 36 today blocked Janipur-High Court road in protest against severe drinking water crisis and administrative apathy. With empty water pitchers the protesting residents including women raised slogans against the Jal Shakti Department and district authorities. Click here to watch video Councillor of Ward Number 36 Subash Sharma who was leading the protest said that the residents of Lakar Mandi Bhawani Nagar and Indira Colony were facing acute shortage of drinking water for the last 10 days thus forcing the locals and particularly women to face hardship. He further alleged that despite repeated requests to the Jal Shakti Department officials nothing has been done to assuage the woes of the residents. “We are forced to sit on the road as a mark of protest against officials of the Jal Shakti Department who have remained callous. We understand that sitting on the road amid the Corona pandemic is full of risk to catch infection but we have no other option and we dont want our children to die out of thirst” Subash said. He said since the last three years after the flood all the water pipes are damaged and despite the assurance of then Divisional Commissioner Jammu that the old pipes are replaced nothing has been done till date. The people said they have brought the matter to the concerned authorities of the Jal Shakti Department but nothing has been done to restore water supply the temperature is rising with every passing day thereby causing numerous difficulties to the inhabitants of the area. Protesters said the problem has further aggravated after the temperature increased over the last one week. The residents demanded that the government should quickly resolve the crisis and warned that they will intensify the protest if their demands are not fulfilled. The protest was lifted on the assurance of an official of Jal Shakti Department that the department will provide proper water supply from tomorrow onwards. The protest was also addressed by Ashok Khar Joginder Sharma Vijay Sharma Jyoti Rani Vijay Gupta Suraj and Pradeep Sharma.

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