Kupwara: Residents of Lasipora Sogam area of Lolab valley in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district are up in arms against Rural Development Department (RDD) for constructing a segregation shed in vicinity of an educational institute.
A group of locals on Saturday assembled at Government Middle School Gujjarpati in Sogam to register their protest against the move by the Rural Development Department (RDD).
The residents alleged that the Department is constructing the segregation shed which is merely some ten feet away from one of the school buildings.
“There are a few hundred students enrolled in the institution and given the fact that it lies just in the vicinity, we have every apprehension that it may cause any inconvenience and may become a reason for possible outbreak of diseases among the children”, they said.
They appealed to the district administration Kupwara and RDD higher-ups to change the site of construction of the segregation shed as to avoid the apprehension of health concerns of the students.
When contacted, BDO Sogam told GNS that the site is being merely constructed for the purpose of segregation of plastic waste and not any dumping site. “It merely is a segregation shed where only plastic wastage will be segregated for proper disposal”, he said adding “Neither is it any dumping site, nor any soakage pit.”
“People are hereby asked not to unduly interfere in the government matters”, the officer added.
When contacted, Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Lolab, Aijaz Ahmed assured that they will look into the matter at an earliest.
“We’ll do whatever is required in the better interest of the students”, the SDM told GNS. (GNS)
