Minister for Rural Development Abdul Haq today laid foundation of two water supply schemes at Zangli and Gangbugh villages in district Kupwara that will benefit nearly 10000 souls of the area.Abdul Haq laid the foundation of Zangli Water Supply Scheme coming up at an estimated cost of Rs 7 crore and will benefit more than 7 villages of the area with a population of about 7000 souls.Minister also laid foundation of WSS Ganbugh coming up at a cost of Rs 52 lakh and will benefit about 2000 souls of the area.The Minister was accompanied by Minister of State for Hajj & Auqaf, PHE and Power, Syed Farooq Ahmad Andrabi, DC Kupwara, SP Kupwara and other officers of the district administration.Residents of the area thanked the government for sanctioning these water supply schemes for them. They said the locals were facing immense hardships in the absence of pure drinking water supply. They said the women folk had to walk several kilometers to fetch drinking water from nearby springs. They said the schemes will bring much respite to the people especially the women folk.Responding to the public grievances, the Minister assured the locals that the schemes will be completed at the earliest so that the people get benefitted from these.
The Minister for Rural Development & Panchayati Raj later interacted with the people of Moori village. On the public demand, the Minister announced grant of Rs 50 lakh for upgradation and repair of Moori road. He also announced Rs 50 lakh for completion of Bimla-Lachipora water supply scheme. Owing to the issues in irregular power supply, the Minister directed the officials to distribute solar lights to entire Moori Naard households.Abdul Haq said the government is alive to the problems faced by the people living in the rural and far-flung areas. He said government is committed to provide all the facilities to the people living in rural areas and is working to blur the rural-urban divide.He said the government has already sanctioned a project for construction of Thanyen-Moori-Sonpendi road at an estimated cost of Rs 100 crore. He assured the people that the work on the said project will be started soon.During the interaction with the locals, the Minister was apprised about various problems being faced by the people, to which the Minister passed on-spot directions for redress.He directed the Chief Education Officer Kupwara to assess the staff shortage in the schools and take immediate steps to resolve the shortage in various schools.The Minister also directed Social Welfare officials to conduct fresh survey in the district and identify the left out persons to be included in various welfare schemes.