10 February 2004	Tuesday	18 Zilhaj 1424

PESHAWAR, Feb 9: The Pakistan Army has completed various water supply schemes in Fata to address the problem of scarcity of drinking water, says an ISPR press release here on Monday.

It is worth mentioning that in the absence of any water supply scheme, the women had to travel long distances to fetch water for domestic consumption. In most cases, human beings and animals were forced to take water from same ponds, posing serious health hazards.

Therefore, to bring an end to the miseries of the people, provision of clean drinking water was accorded high priority in the uplift schemes launched by the armed forces, the press release added.

Water-related projects undertaken by the army included installation of tubewells, provision of dugwells and installation of hundreds of hand-pumps. In addition, experts are busy in carrying out geological survey to identify water-table/source and also to identify mineral deposits in the area.

In Khyber Agency, three water supply schemes namely, Mishtra, Tabai and Sandhana have been launched. In Kurram Agency, one scheme at Kimal Bazaar and in Orakzai Agency two schemes at Zargari and Chinar Kalay have been completed. -APP