Bandipora, Dec 16: For the first time since Independence, a village in north Kashmir's Bandipora district has received piped drinking water under the government’s Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM).
The Jal Jeevan Mission is envisioned to provide safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections by 2024 to all households in rural India by way of the development of in-village piped water supply infrastructure and reliable drinking water sources and/or augmentation of existing sources to provide long-term sustainability of the water supply system.
Waevan, a remote village of Bandipora, located 28 kilometers from district headquarters will need no longer to travel miles to fetch drinking water as the potable water through pipes has reached their doorsteps.
Wali Mohammad, a local resident, told Rising Kashmir that he had never seen women so elated before. "It has been an exhausting routine for them for years to get water for their households. A lot of women were simply looking at the pipelines with delight today,” he added.
He said that earlier they had no other choice but to fetch water from distant mountain creeks that required them to travel up to a kilometre.
“While the men are busy earning a livelihood, it was up to the women to bring the water and they were usually seen wandering long distances bearing heavy pots and with their children in tow to fill up for the family,” Wali said.
A local woman said, “Women of the village have gone through many difficulties but today seeing water arriving here is nothing less than a dream come true for us.”
Sabreena, a 10th-class student, told Rising Kashmir that she had read in books about how people in cities get to drink tap water while they themselves had to walk for miles with their vessels. "I constantly asked myself why we couldn't get such amenities in our village, yet today, the delivery of water at our doorstep made us feel that our life is just as comfortable as that of an urban one," she said.
Shabir Ahmad, a local, said that when the villagers learned of the delivery of potable water to their doorsteps, they were filled with delight, as previously they had to travel for a long way on foot to get drinking water.
Chief Executive Engineer Jal Shakti department Bandipora, Syed Fiza Hussain Rizvi told Rising Kashmir that it was a daunting mission but also proof of their capabilities. "In spite of the arduous landscape of six kilometers, we succeeded in conquering this task and providing potable water at doorsteps in such a distant village,” Rizvi said, adding, “We are not going to stop here. Shortly, a water tank and water purification plant will be established for this village.”