TANK: Several villages of the district are without drinking water and people there rely on water from rain-fed ponds, which has been causing various diseases among them.

The villages that lacked potable water include Gola Korai, Toran Nau, Toran Kohna, Therhy Malook, Naurang and others. Residents said that water scarcity was major problem in these areas.

Khan Bakhsh, a resident of Gola Korai village, told this scribe that a few years ago some water schemes were installed in the distant areas under the so-called Rural Development Programme to provide the people with drinking water, but over the years all these schemes were rendered useless due to lack of maintenance.

Umar Khan of Naurang said that presently the people had no other option, but to consume contaminated water of the ponds. He criticised the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government for not resolving basic issues of the people and ignoring uplift of rural areas.

He said that roads, health and education facilities were still a dream for the people of several villages.

The residents urged the provincial government to order prompt action for resolution of their problems.

Published in Dawn, October 3rd, 2020