KOHAT: Village councillors of Kohat tehsil on Sunday complained about acute water shortage in their areas and called for resolving the issue on priority to provide relief to the people.

They were speaking at their maiden meeting, which was chaired by city mayor Qari Sher Zaman.

Welcoming the councillors, the mayor called upon them to work collectively by remaining above their political affiliations to find solutions to the problems.

He said that the underground water level had dropped drastically which had affected the whole Kohat, including Lachi and Gumbat tehsils. He said Sudal was among the worst affected areas.

The gathering of 63 male and female councillors was held at the town hall of the tehsil municipal administration.

It was also attended by tehsil municipal officer Ameen Gul and government officials.

Councillor Malik Iqbal said on the occasion that Kohat city was faced with an acute water shortage and the Water Supply and Sanitation Company had failed to resolve the problem in some parts, especially in Garden Colony and Garhijaats.

He also denounced the lack of facilities at the KDA teaching hospital due to which the patients were being referred to Peshawar.

He regretted that Kohat had abundant oil and gas reserves and billions of unspent royalty, but the lawmakers had been making false promises of provision of MRI, CT Scan, burns centre and surgeons.

He said that work on reconstruction of Liaquat Memorial Hospital had been stopped since 2018.

Marai councillor Malik Bilal Hussain said the population of 16,000 of their village was deprived of basic amenities, including drinking water. He said that there was no doctor or hospital in the area and in emergency cases the people had to bear a lot of trouble.

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2022