Nasir Aziz
The residents of Dargam, a landlocked village in Pattan area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, are up in arms against the government for the underdevelopment of the place. Stating that the government is not paying any attention to the problems they have been facing due to underdevelopment, locals allege that the authorities have simply turned a deaf ear to their grievances.
Despite the proximity of the Srinagar-Baramulla highway, the people in Dargam, a sparsely populated village, are made to suffer due to the non-availability of infrastructure and public transport. A local resident and Chairman of Youth Committee Dargam, Ghulam Hassan Wani says that they have to walk the distance of a several kilometres to get the public transport.
“The place is confined in a cage, either by running streams or small hills. Though the village has two entry/exit points which connect our village to the roads of adjoining villages and then to the Pattan headquarters. But one among them, which was shorter route and easily accessible to everyone remains dysfunctional as there exists no bridge on the stream. While the second one is longer route and is not accessible to the whole village as one mohalla can not access this route”, said Wani.
As per the locals, the road and the bridge were registered in 1950 in the department of revenue and its construction was also initiated. However, after many decades, they remain to be unconstructed till this date.
“If the bridge and road are constructed, the distance to higher secondary school and Primary Health Centre will reduce drastically. We have been demanding for the construction of a permanent bridge and road for last many decades, but of no use. Such factors make this passageway indispensable for the residents,” says another resident.
In view of the deplorable condition of the link roads, electric wires, poles etc., locals are of the opinion that their village is one of the most backward areas of the whole region.
“The link roads are in shambles. There are no poles. At many places, trees are used as electric poles. Our middle school is operated in a rented building, that too without a washroom,” says an elderly man, Ghulam Hassan Parray, adding that owing to government’s apathy, education remains to be one of the worst hit sectors in the area.
