Srinagar– Residents in low lying areas near Zainakote Industrial Estate are facing a health hazard as SICOP authorities have failed to stop flow of waste water emanating from local units into nearby residential areas.
Residents accused the Small Scale Industries Development Corporation Limited (SICOP), which manages Zainakote Industrial Estate, of willfully ignoring their pleas for redressal of their problem.
Although the Managing Director SICOP and other higher-ups of the administration were informed about the issue, the aggrieved residents alleged that no measures were taken in this regard so far.
Residents at HMT are now more at risk of health problems as a result of the direct discharge of contaminated water from the Industrial Estate into the residential areas. “We sought assistance from higher-ups, including the Managing Director SICOP, but the issue has not been addressed,” Ashfaq Hussain, a resident of Lane No 5, Rose Avenue, told Kashmir Observer.
The authorities, he claimed, have never bothered to visit the affected area to know the plight of the people, who are more likely to experience serious health issues, in case the polluted water emanating from the Industrial Estate HMT is not blocked forthwith.
“The polluted water from Industrial Estate enters our homes with an unbearable stench, leaving us to wriggle like a fish out of water, yet who cares? They don’t really care about the issues people face, or else they wouldn’t have allowed the residential area to become a cesspool of waste,” Mohammad Yasir, another resident of the same locality said.
Manager Estates, SICOP Bilal Ahmad, admitted there is a problem revealing that the flow has been “internally diverted to some other place” fifteen days ago. “We have taken some measures during a meeting chaired by MD SICOP and a strategy vis a vis permanent solution will be chalked out within the next twenty days. Rest the flow has been stopped and the residents face no issues as of now,” the official claimed.
However when Kashmir Observer confronted him with the live footage of the inundated Lane No 5, Rose Avenue, he promised to depute a team for inspection instantly to have the first hand appraisal of the situation. But the residents contacted Kashmir Observer late in the night saying no one had visited the area till late in the night. Residents alleged that SICOP has so far taken ad-hoc measures by diverting waste water from one colony to another in order to buy time.
Dr Bilal Mohi-ud-Din Bhat, the Deputy Commissioner (DC) Srinagar, promised early action when he was apprised of the situation.
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