MINGORA: The residents of Gulkada union council on Saturday warned that if the Water and Sanitation Services Company and district administration didn’t address acute water shortage in the area without delay, they would stage street protests.

They told Dawn that water supply to Gulkada 1, 2, 3 and Sherarai areas had been suspended for the last two months to their misery.

Arshad Ali of Gulkada 1 said water crisis had been there for three months.

“The WSSC initially released water to our area after three days for 20 minutes but now, the supply has been suspended completely,” said Arshad Ali of Gulkada 1.

The residents said they fetched water from far-flung areas wasting their time and money.

Residents complain water supply to Gulkada, Sherarai suspended for two months

“For the last three months, we have been going to the Swat River or other far-away areas daily to fetch water. This has adversely affected our life,” Shaukat Khan of Gulkada 1 said.

The resident complained that the water crisis had made him fetch water twice a day.

The children also resented the problem and said their studies suffered as they’d to cover long distances on foot to get water for domestic use.

“I get up early to fetch water from a spring, which is around a kilometer from my house.

“As a result, I go to school late and thus, being punished by teacher,” said eighth grader Haroon Khan.

The local elders complained about a lack of water in mosques and said they struggled to perform pre-prayer ablutions.

“For the first time in our lives, we have seen water shortage in mosques and that, too, for such a long time. The mosques have no water supply for the last three months,” complained elder Hazrat Ali of Gulkada 2.

The residents said children didn’t bathe for many days to water shortage.

They said they’d visited the WSSC offices several times but the officials didn’t address the issue despite making promises.

When contacted, WSSC official Mian Shahid Ali insisted that water table had gone down.

“We have provided water to the area from another line and are sinking new tubewells. However, as the water table is going down, the water shortage issue will not be resolved until the completion of the Bagh Dherai gravity project,” he said.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2019