QUETTA, Sept 20: Balochistan will play its role in the formation of a national drinking water and sanitation policy to make it a comprehensive and effective document for achieving UN millennium development goals. This was decided at the first session of the two-day provincial consultative conference on national drinking water and sanitation policy, here on Tuesday. Provincial PHE department has arranged the conference with the support of the Unicef.

The Provincial Minister for Public Health Engineering, Maulana Agha Abdul Bari presided over the first session of the conference. The Unicef Balochistan Chief Inder Lal, the Chief of Balochistan Environment Foundation, Mohammad Ahmed Gondal and Chief Engineer PHE department Abdul Wahid also spoke on the occasion.

Maulana Agha Abdul Bari said that the provincial government was making efforts to provide clean drinking water and sanitation facilities throughout the province. He lauded the efforts being made for the formation of a national drinking water and sanitation and said that in the absence of such policy people were facing great difficulties specially in Balochistan.

However, he expressed the hope that maximum problems of the people would be resolved in the country with the formation of national policy by the federal government in November 2005.

“Provincial conference has its own importance as it can make valuable suggestions which would be made part of the proposed policy,” Agha Abdul Bari said.

He said that the people must be consulted on these suggestions and their point of view should be given importance. “ National drinking water and sanitation policy should be bases on the people’s needs,” he advised the policy makers. He urged upon the NGOs and government organizations to create awareness among the people regarding water as most of the people have no knowledge in this regard.

He underlined the need for launching a campaign for creating awareness among the people regarding conservation and use of water that would help in resolving the water shortage problem.

The Unicef Balochistan Chief Inder Lal said that his organization was providing all help and cooperation to the Pakistan government for the last 50 years for improving drinking water and sanitation facilities in the country.

He assured the participants that the Unicef would continue extending all help for resolving this issue in future. “It is our desire that clean drinking water should be available to all Pakistanis in the country,” Mr Inder Lal said and added that the Unicef would provide all out help to Pakistan and Balochistan governments in this regard.