BATTAGRAM: Traditional watermills, the low-cost grain grinding facility in Battagram district, are in the process of becoming extinct because some of which have been washed away in the recent floods and the remaining are slowly grinding to a halt due to the decreasing levels of water.

The poor community of the district mostly relies on this facility which neither needs electricity nor fuel, and its flour is said to be both tasty and healthy.

There are several electricity-powered flour mills in the area, but residents prefer to grind their wheat, maize and rice grains in the traditional watermills due to better quality and taste. Owners of watermills charge Rs200 per 40kg, and also take some amount of flour.

Khan Mohammad, a local, told Dawn that they got their maize, wheat and rice ground at watermills as it cost less and produced better quality flour. He said people preferred the flour ground from the watermill as it was tasty and healthy compared to flour of electricity-run machines.

Amjid Ali, another local, said the people used to send the watermill ground flour to their relatives living in other cities of Pakistan.

Niaz, a watermill owner, told Dawn that he had been in the business since he was a young boy. He said he used to grind up 12 to 16 bags of grain a day when there was abundant water in the Battagram River, but now it was not possible to grind at least five bags a day.

He said that he lost his watermill to floods, but the local authorities did not help him re-establish his business despite repeated requests.

Watermill owned by Sami Rehman was also washed away by floods, and he complained that the government had not helped him to revive his business.

Juma Gul lamented that the watermills’ grinding capacity had gone down gradually owing to the reduced flow of water in the Battagram River. He said that watermills were a blessing for the people as they got their grain grinded at very nominal rates.

He said people even sent the watermill flour to their relatives abroad, and urged the government to construct concrete walls along the river to protect the watermills from being washed away in case of floods in future.

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2016