(MENAFN- Kashmir Observer) Srinagar- On a sunny Thursday morning, a team of lawmakers drove up to the Doodh Ganga water treatment plant in Kralpora, a facility meant to supply drinking water to nearly seven lakh residents of Srinagar's uptown neighbourhoods.

What they found there has unsettled both politicians and citizens: a system struggling to provide clean water, weighed down by shortages, poor planning, and a river increasingly choked with waste.

The J&K Legislative House Committee on Environment, headed by veteran legislator M.Y. Tarigami, had come with questions.

Alongside him were lawmakers Dr. Sajjad Shafi from Uri, Mushtaq Guroo from Chanapora, Irshad Rasool Kar from Sopore, Peerzada Feroz from Devsar, and local MLA Ali Mohammad Dar of Chadoora.

Waiting for them were engineers from the Jal Shakti Department, officials of the Pollution Control Committee, and a group of anxious residents who said they have been forced to drink murky, untreated water for weeks.

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Tarigami told the officials that clean water is a fundamental right and that any lapse in treatment would carry consequences.

Citizens from Malik Bagh, Kralpora, Gopalpora, and adjoining localities stepped forward with their stories.

Among them, Dr. Rouf Malik proposed a public awareness drive that would enlist local imams to spread messages on water safety.

Another resident, Dr. Showkat Dar, who heads the Markazi Aufaq Committee at Jamia Masjid Dharambug, alleged that entire neighborhoods have been receiving polluted water whenever alum, a chemical used to reduce turbidity, runs out of stock.

Lawmakers Guroo and Dar pressed officials about repeated shortages of alum this summer. Without it, the water flowing from taps in Baghat, Rambagh, Natipora, Chanapora, Hyderpora, Rawalpora, and Humhama often carries visible impurities.

Activist Raja Muzaffar Bhat, who has fought a long legal battle on Doodh Ganga pollution before the National Green Tribunal (NGT), said the problem runs deeper than chemicals.

“For months, there has been no alum supply. The government failed to procure it in time, and people suffered,” he said.“Untreated sewage is being discharged into Doodh Ganga every day. This river is feeding homes, yet it is also carrying waste.”

In 2021, the government approved a ₹140 crore project to install sewage treatment plants along Doodh Ganga on the NGT's orders. Of this, ₹67 crore has already been released to the Urban Environmental Engineering Department. Still, work has stalled.“I have all the documents,” Bhat told the committee, offering to share them so the Assembly can hold officials accountable.

The record of penalties paints a troubling picture. The NGT has already fined the Chadoora Municipal Committee, Srinagar Municipal Corporation, and Budgam's District Mineral Office with penalties of ₹1 crore each for failing to check untreated sewage and waste dumping into the river.

In 2023 alone, the Chadoora body was slapped with another ₹1.5 crore in environmental compensation in the case Raja Muzaffar Bhat vs. Government of J&K.

The lawmakers left the plant with files, promises, and a reminder from Tarigami that the Assembly will not ignore this crisis. Yet, for the families waiting at home, the question remains the same: will tomorrow's glass of water be safe?

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