LANDI KOTAL, Sept 13: There is an acute shortage of drinking water in the Shalobar and Sipah areas in Bara tehsil as local water reservoirs are filled with mud and the a tube-well in the area has been in a state of disrepair for more than a decade.

A water supply scheme was completed in 1981 to bring clean water from Bara River to the areas. Subsequently, the public health department built three reservoirs near Dogra and laid a network of pipelines over a five-kilometre radius.

Five years later, the department concerned installed a tube- well adjacent to the reservoirs to offset shortages as reservoirs tended to be filled with mud and sand flowing in with flood during the rainy season.

The cost of the tube-well was around Rs2 million but the actual cost of the entire scheme could not be ascertained as officials of the department concerned were reluctant to give details.

Interestingly, the public health department employed four lines men for the maintenance of pipelines and reservoirs, who have not been seen doing their duty for the past 15 years but they regularly drew their salaries, causing financial losses amounting to millions of rupees to the national exchequer.

One of the four maintenance men was learnt to have employed a relative in his place for half his salary. The man is now reported to be operating a private tube-well.