CHITRAL: The residents of Chitral’s two union councils will get uninterrupted water supply in the summer season after the inauguration of water schemes through hand pumps here on Monday.

Earlier, flashfloods used to cause suspension of water supply to local residents.

People of Muldeh village welcomed water schemes being launched under the auspices of Sarhad Rural Support Programme and said their water woes in summer seemed to be over.

They said they had to fetch water from far-off areas in the summer season.

Munir Ahmad, Shujaul Haq, Qurban Wali and Ibadur Rehman said suspension of water supply increased across Chitral in the summer season when pipelines was were either washed away or damaged by flashfloods.

They praised the SRSP for coming to their help by ensuring smooth supply of clean drinking water.

The people said the flashfloods left hundreds of people suffering from gastrointestinal diseases every year as they couldn’t afford to bring water from other villages and had to consume contaminated water. They said their repeated requests to the successive governments in the past fell ion deaf ears.

The people, however, said SRSP responded to their request positively by beginning water project before the start of the summer season.

Speaking on the occasion, SRSP district programme manager Tariq Ahmad said 15 hand pumps were being installed in Hone, Muldeh, Zargarandeh, Balach and Singur villages.

He said the expenses of the sinking of wells and fixing of hand pumps would be borne by SRSP under a project of the Programme for Economic Activity and Community Empowerment (Peace).

Mr Ahmad said the Peace project was launched with the financial assistance of European Union in Malakand division, where militancy and flashfloods had damaged roads, buildings and drinking water schemes. — Correspondent