BUNER: Facing acute shortage of drinking water the residents of Jowar village here on Wednesday threatened not to cast their votes if a tubewell was not dug in their area before the general elections.

They said that the existing tubewell dried up because of no rains and the people had been facing shortage of potable water. The residents have to meet their daily need by buying water at Rs6,000 per tanker or Rs20 per can of water.

Talking to mediapersons outside the DC office in Daggar, the area elders, including Sher Afzal, Alamzeb and Azizur Rehman, said that they had informed the political leaders and councillors about their decision. They claimed that tehsil nazim Maulana Saeedur Rehman and Millikhel UC nazim Waliur Rehman were ready to allocate funds for the tubewell, but ECP had put a ban on new schemes during general elections.

Later, during their meeting with the deputy commissioner the elders were told that for the scheme to be executed they would have to get a written permission from the contesting candidates that they had no objection to it.

Meanwhile, district returning officer Barrister Ikhtiar asked the government employees nominated for election duty to stay away from the public meetings of candidates and ensure their impartiality during the election process.

He was chairing a meeting of local heads of political parties, candidates and councillors, which was held in Daggar. Deputy commissioner Shafiullah and district election commissioner Jehanazeb Khan also attended the meeting.

Mr Ikhtiar made it clear that their sole purpose was to conduct the general elections in a free, fair and transparent manner. He also asked the candidates to follow the election code of conduct.

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2018