MANSEHRA: Water crisis deepened across Mansehra district as the water table has dropped significantly and many wells and hand pumps have dried up.

The people of Mansehra, Balakot, Oghi, Darband and Baffa-Pakhal tehsils have been facing acute water shortage following recent heatwave in Hazara division and rest of the country.

“Mansehra city and its suburbs have been hit badly as tehsil municipal administration has not launched a new water supply scheme in the last two decades,” said a resident Mohammad Ajmal.

He said that most of the hand pumps and wells had dried up, aggravating the water crisis further.

Since the start of summer, water quantity has also shrunk in local springs. Men and women could be seen holding cans and small containers in their hands for fetching water from nearby houses where hand pumps and wells are still functioning.

“The water table that earlier could be found after digging of 70 feet has dropped significantly and one can now get the water after sinking a hand pump up to around 400 feet,” said Mohammad Bashir Tanoli.

He said that work on a water supply scheme launched by the former PML-N MNA in 2016 was yet to be completed to supply water to people in the city and its suburbs.

CONVOCATION AT HU: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Acting Governor Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani has said that promotion of science and technology education is essential for Pakistan’s progress and development.

Speaking at the 11th convocation of Hazara University here the other day, he asked the students to get science and technology education to ensure progress of the country. He said that industrial revolution could also be made possible this way.

Vice-chancellor Dr Jamil Ahmad said that HU stood among the top three universities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and top 20 varsities across the country as research was given due importance in this institution.

He congratulated the students who received their degree in various disciplines. The acting governor gave away degrees to 928 students, 22 of them PhD scholars, who passed out from 2018 to 2020 besides gold medals to as many as 260 students over their extraordinary performance.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2022