STATE TIMES NEWS Bhadarwah: In absence of potable water supply, women in hilly tribal villages of Jammu and Kashmir’s Bhadarwah are considered their family’s provider for an increasingly valuable material: water. Traditionally, women especially girls are in charge of gathering water every day for use in their homes and for cattle as well. A day’s supply of water can amount to multiple trips to local natural spring for women. While rainfall has remained inconsistent, villagers have overused its water, forcing its residents to search beyond their homes for the precious liquid. Tribal women must travel longer to find new sources of water, and this affects their lives daily. School going girls are the worst sufferers as they have no other option but to discontinue their studies, as it takes hours and hours, to first locate and then collect water from far off areas in the forest for their family and cattle, resulting in leaving them with no time to go to schools or study at home. Despite several government schemes, which ensures potable water supply to every household, Chenera hamlet of Misrata Panchayat in Additional District Bhadarwah inhabited by BPL tribal Gujjar population is reeling under severe water crisis since last two years as natural water resources in their near vicinity have dried up and in absence of potable water supply, womenfolk, especially girls travel miles in thick forest everyday to collect unhygienic muddy water for themselves and for their cattle. When water is not piped to the home the burden of fetching it falls disproportionately on women and children, especially girls. The given circumstances have taken a serious toll on the girl education as atleast 15 school going tribal girls of Chenera hamlet have to quit the studies in order to collect the precious liquid for which they spend 8 to 10 hours every day which is a colossal waste of their valuable time. Bibi Begum (45) of Chenera hamlet said that we also aspire that our girls should go to school but for us, our first priority is to collect water to save our lives and that of our cattle. Usually People are scared of how to manage and collect the dowry for girl child but in our village we are more worried about how and from where to collect the water for marriage or if someone dies. “I have a passion for studies and with great difficulty, I managed to study upto 12th standard but last year, I quit my studies for the sake of my family as I have to collect water leaving me with no time to carry on with my education,” said Rubina Bano (18). Fatima (16), a teenage girl in Chenera hamlet, has appeared twice for her eighth standard exams, but was unsuccessful on both the occasions. She claims that the reason for her poor performance in studies is largely because she has spent most of her time fetching water for the family, rather than studying. “I don’t want to write the exam again. I don’t think I can do any better this time around,” Fatima added. Villagers and PRIs alleged that they have been running from pillar to post since last three years to get any potable water scheme sanctioned for their village but authorities especially that of ‘Jal Shakti Vibhag’ always gave a cold shoulder to their repeated requests and even misbehaved with them. When contacted, Executive Engineer Jal Shakti Vibhag Doda Harjeet Singh said,” as per reports of the field staff, the said hamlet is without piped water supply and for detailed project, I will send a team of there and will try to provide drinking water to the village under Jal Jeevan Mission but it will take some time to implement the project and provide potable water to them.”
