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| Unending Thirst: A detailed look at Jagti Colony’s water crisis | | | Sri Krishen Kaw
Jagti Migrant Township, Nagrota — home to over 3,000 displaced Kashmiri Pandit families since 2011 — has been battling a chronic water crisis that residents say has persisted “since the day we shifted here.” What began as an infrastructure gap has now become a 13-year cycle of disruptions, contamination, and official apathy, leaving inhabitants aghast and fighting for a basic human right.
The Scale of the Crisis: Not Days, But Decades:
Frequency of disruption. Supply is cut for weeks at a time. In Sept 2024, water was stopped for 23-25 days after rains damaged the system. As of May 2026, the township went 12 days without a single drop in taps.
Monsoon paralysis:
Every year, the Tawi water lifting plant that feeds Jagti submerges during heavy rains, halting supply until river levels recede.
Tankers not a solution:
Relief Organization sends tankers as a stopgap, but only ground-floor residents can access them. Elderly and disabled families on 3rd and 4th floors are unable to carry water up multiple flights.
Human cost: In Aug 2024, a family struggled to perform last rites due to no water and had to purchase a private tanker.
Why Jagti Remains Thirsty:
Infrastructure & Administrative Failures
Entire supply depends on a single lifting plant on the Tawi River. When it floods or machinery fails, Jagti goes dry. Decades-old pipes leak and burst. Power curtailments at pumping stations cause prolonged shutdowns.
Four borewells worth Rs 7.5 crore were sanctioned in 2016 to provide 24x7 supply. Foundation stones were finally laid in Sept 2024, but as of May 2026 they are not operational.
Inmates of the colony allege that township has received “impure water for decades,” leading to water-borne diseases. Residents say even when water comes, it’s unfit to drink. Since the Relief Organization handed the water scheme to Jal Shakti Dept, but residents say pure drinking water still eludes us.
Though there has been timeline of Neglect and Protest as 2011-2016 families shifted to Jagti from camps. Complaints of improper supply since long begin immediately.
In Sept 2024 Relief Commissioner Dr. Arvind Karwani visited Jagti, admits long-pending water demand, announced borewell work has commenced.
Relief & Rehabilitation Commissioner Dr. Arvind Karwani has repeatedly stated that work on four borewells has commenced and will bring “much-needed relief. However, residents point out that borewells sanctioned in 2016 are still not functional 10 years later.
The Relief Organization needs to Immediately send Daily tankers to all blocks, with lifting mechanism for upper floors, until supply restores. War-footing completion of four borewells and independent water testing for contamination is required and simultaneously de-link Jagti from the flood-prone Tawi lifting plant. Create dedicated storage and alternative source. Further fix responsibility for 10-year delay in borewell project and crores spent on maintenance with no result.
For 13 years, Jagti’s residents have been told “work is in progress.” As temperatures rise and taps stay dry, the township’s question is simple: |
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