J&K: Forced To Find A Solution To Water Crisis, Man Builds A House Around Public Hand Pump

A man in Jammu and Kashmir¡¯s Kishtwar town allegedly encroached upon a public hand pump by constructing a kitchen around it. The Jal Shakti Department has lodged a police complaint in connection with the matter.

Man encroaches upon public property

Owing to acute water crisis in and around Kishtwar town, a local resident named Sheetal Kumar has encroached upon a public hand pump near the SSP office. Kumar has constructed a house around the hand pump, which was installed by the government for public use.

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Now, the hand pump lies inside the kitchen of Kumar¡¯s house and it is being used as a personal property. It is alleged that common people cannot use it to fetch water.

Officials of the Jal Shakti department have asked the local police to lodge an FIR and initiate action against those involved in encroaching upon the government-installed hand pump and using it as personal property.

Senior Public Health Engineering (PHE) officials were surprised when they learnt that the accused has managed to encroach upon the public property by carrying out construction over it.

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The town of Kishtwar has been facing acute water shortage since years. The locals have protested day in and day out protest against the PHE department. Despite claiming to have spent scrores of rupees on providing drinking water facility to the people of Kishtwar town and its adjoining areas, the PHE department has failed to bring an end to the crisis.

Another 'encroachment' incident

In another incident, a 52-year-old woman died during an anti-encroachment drive by officials in Kota district of Rajasthan on Wednesday. According to the Talera SDM Kamal Meena, the deceased woman was identified as Chamelibai Malav.

She stood in front of a JCB machine. in a bid to stop the anti-encroachment drive. District officials claim that they took her aside and made her sit there. She, however, lost consciousness, following which she was taken to a hospital, where medics declared her dead.

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The deceased woman's family members and local residents, however, claimed a female constable hit the woman. Consequently, she was hit by the JCB machine. This caused her death, they alleged. The family members and locals staged a demonstration in front of the community health centre in Talera.