SIALKOT, Aug 31: The Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) has established a well-equipped water-testing laboratory in Sialkot worth Rs14 million to provide advanced testing facilities to locals.

This is Sialkot’s first-ever internationally recognised water-testing laboratory.

PCRWR Chairman Dr Muhammad Aslam Tahir told the media 25 to 30 per cent deaths in Pakistan were caused due to diarrhoea. He said Pakistan was among the 17 countries that were facing shortage of water. He said 40 per cent of the patients admitted to government hospitals across Pakistan were suffering from water-borne diseases.

He said the PCRWR would soon establish 19 more water-testing laboratories across Pakistan, adding the council had already conducted a massive research on water-borne diseases. It was now striving to ensure early and smooth provision of potable drinking water to people across Pakistan. He said the PCRWR would soon establish 24 model filtration plants across Pakistan.

The chairman said increase in Pakistan’s total water storage capacity was a dire need of the hour because the country could never progress and develop without increasing its water storage capacity. He said currently Pakistan only had 10 per cent storage capacity, while India 33 per cent. He said China had established 77, Iran 33, Japan 44 and India 11 big dams to ensure maximum storage of water.

Meanwhile, addressing participants after inaugurating the testing lab near Nawaz Sharif Hockey Stadium, Science and Technology Minister Zahid Hamid said the PML-N government was evolving an effective strategy for the promotion of research in water purification to control water-borne diseases on modern lines, besides promoting science and technology across Pakistan.

PCRWR Chairman Dr Muhammad Aslam Tahir, Project Director Chaudhry Muhammad Akram, MPAs Chaudhry Tariq Akhtar Subhani, Munawar Ali Gill, Rana Liaquat Ali, Shazia Ilahi and Rana Zahid were also present on the occasion.

The minister said the eradication of water-borne diseases was the government’s top priority, saying 200,000 children died of these diseases in Pakistan every year. He said advanced research on such diseases could be helpful in reducing the deaths.Later, talking to the media, Hamid said the government was ensuring maximum foreign investment in this regard. The new era of national development and prosperity had begun under the leadership of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the world would soon witness a developed Pakistan, he claimed.

Moreover, the PCRWR announced free advanced water-testing services to all of Sialkot district’s flood-stricken areas.

PCRWR Project Director Chaudhry Muhammad Akram said this while talking to the media. He said the council would provide free water-testing facilities for the next six months to all those affected by floods in Sialkot district’s four tehsils of Sialkot, Daska, Sambrial and Pasrur in a bid to enable them to avert water-borne diseases. — Correspondent