MITHI, Jan 29: The people of Thar have demanded the government and the international donor agencies to have tube-wells installed in various villages of Tharparkar District, whose 1.2 million populace has remained deprived of the facility of potable water since decades.

A number of notables and spokespersons of NGOs, recently interviewed by this correspondent, deplored the apathy of previous governments who bothered least to take notice of the suffering of the inhabitants of Thar who had to encounter immense difficulties while fetching water from wells situated far away.

Throwing light at the non-availability of potable water in the sandy region, Ram Singh Sodho, Naib Nazim, Tharparkar District, told this correspondent that Thar lacked an irrigation system and having no alternative more than 50 per cent villagers usually spent several hours at the wells daily for drawing water.

Dr Sono Khangharani, Director, Thar Deep, said Tharis were living a life below the poverty level and it was beyond their means to spend between Rs50,000 and Rs100,000 for getting a well dug, hence it would be in the fitness of things if an adequate number of tube-wells were installed in the region.

Ghazi Khan Khoso, a notable of Nagarparkar, said that SAZDA had installed about three dozens tube-wells in various villages of the district but most of them could not be operated owing to lack of maintenance.

JUSTICE DEMANDED: The councillors of union council Mithi have demanded of the government to provide justice to the relatives of an accused, Rajab Ali, who had died in jail owing to the alleged torture of the police.