MITHI: People living in the villages of Nagarparkar taluka on Wednesday asked the Sindh government to provide water to them through pipeline as was promised by top leadership of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) ahead of general elections last year.

The residents of Parkar region of Thar desert have to cover several miles a day in search of water for them and their livestock because of persistent drought conditions.

Faiz Khoso, Barkat Kapri and other residents of the hilly town as well as villages told this reporter that the entire region had been facing the worst-ever water crisis due to insufficient rains last year.

They alleged that the Sindh government, instead of providing water to the area, was only focusing to construct small dams by taking loans from international financial firms just to “dupe” the area people and fulfil their ‘ so-called claims’ of bringing development in the backward area.

When there had been no sufficient rains for the past many years due to climate change and other reasons, it was totally an immature move to build around a dozen dams to store rainwater flowing from the hilltop of Karoonjhar hills, they said, demanding the high-ups concerned to provide them with canal water through pipeline or by installing RO plants as was promised by PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah and others.

They said that almost all wells, the prime source of water, had dried up long ago in the hilly area and other parts of the taluka. They deplored that not only many women lost their lives in their search for water during the past few months, but dozens of blue bulls, deer and other rare species also lost their lives due thirst and hunger.

They said people had to travel miles on donkeys and camels to fetch a few pitchers of water during the extreme hot weather.

They also alleged that lawmakers from the area, including MPA Qasim Siraj Soomro and MNA Noor Mohammad Shah Jilani, who had promised to resolve their basic issue of drinking water, did not even attend their phone calls.

Despite repeated attempts no elected representative from the area could be contacted for their version over the persistent water crisis and frequent protests by the area people.

Meanwhile, Special Assistant to Sindh chief minister advocate Veerji Kolhi, who also hails from the remote village of Parkar area, in a press statement on Tuesday claimed that the Sindh government had acquired pipes and other material to provide canal water to Naukot, Nagarparkar town and others areas. “I request people to wait 10 to 15 days more to get water,” he added.

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2019