People in 21 villages yet to see electricity in south Kashmir

South Kashmir, Feb 5 (UNI) A Majority of the people living in 21 remote and far-flung villages, dominated by Gujjars and Bakerwals, have yet to see an electric bulb and a vehicle.

''Majority of our women and children have not seen an electric bulb and vehicles since they remain confined in the forest area,'' said a group of Gujjars and Bakerwals, who had come to Shopian from different remote and far-flung areas, to collect essential commodities.

Alamuddin, a Gujjar, said people from hilly areas came down to Shopian to take salt, sugar and other essentials for two to three weeks. However, he said, they used to store essential commodities for six winter months as the area received heavy snowfall. This winter there was little snowfall, he said.

He said there was no electricity and road connectivity in his village and all those who wanted to come down to Shopian or any other place had to walk 10 to 20 kms through forests at a great risk.

The group members said that for light during nights they dip a cloth in kerosene oil, tied it with a stick and lit it. 'It hardly gives any light but we manage to eat food and do other work since we have no electricity, they said adding majority of the people were suffering from breathing problems as they inhaled the kerosene smoke.

They said they used to burn a particular wood for light in the past which is not available now. ''We get kerosene in black at Shopian and other places,'' they said.

Choudhary Nazir Ahmad, District Pulwama president of the Jammu and Kashmir Gujjar and Bakarwal conference, said there were 21 villages in Pulwama where there was no electricity and roads. In addition, there were 10 villages where there was no road connectivity, water or electricity.

Interestingly, Choudhary Nazir said there were enough schools in these remote and far-flung areas where the maximum people belonged to Gujjar and Bakarwal communities. The schools were opened during the coalition government rule, he said.

However, he complained that all the teachers, appointed under Rehbar-e-Taleem (ReT) were non-locals. The teachers hailed from other areas of the district since ''we do not have any qualified local youth available within our community'', he said.

He demanded that SRO 126 should be restored for the welfare of Gujjars and Bakarwals in the state.

Accusing the coalition government for ignoring the communities, Chouldary Nazir threatened to launch a statewide agitation if SRO 126 was not restored.

UNI