GUJAR KHAN: Residents of Kahana village in Kandwaal Union Council of Pind Dadan Khan face immense hardships in procuring potable water during the summer season even though they pay monthly bills for a water pipeline operated by the Public Health Engineering Department for this purpose.

The village located 140km from Jhelum lies in the foothills of the salt range due to which the groundwater is brackish and unfit for daily use. In order to address this issue, a pipeline to supply water to Kahana, Tuddhy Thall and Jaithal villages was installed to supply water from Narumi Lake in Kallar Kahar.

However, residents complained that the pipeline is frequently out of order, alleging that sometimes service stations and restaurants in the area willfully puncture it to steal water, effectively denting the supply to the tail-end consumers. This forces the villagers to procure water from the “leakage points” at the main pipeline, sometimes at a distance of several kilometres from their village.

Locals said the health engineering department charges Rs100 per month for the connection from every household through representatives appointed in these localities. Most of the villagers Dawn spoke to requested anonymity fearing repercussions. They said if there’s damage to the pipeline, the water supply remains suspended for days, forcing them to fetch water from remote villages.

A local journalist said due to the shortage of water in the area, for events such as weddings and funerals, they have to procure it via tankers from the river, but the water supplied from the river is mostly contaminated.

The journalist named Mohammad Waseem said that the water storage tanks at the lake needed to be properly covered, claiming that there have been reports of animals and birds falling into the water source.

Speaking to Dawn, Sub-Divisional Officer of the Public Health Engineering Department Syed Mohadis Gillani said the water supply system was established by the Punjab government in 2016 under the District Water Regulatory Authority (DWRA). He said the 15 km-long pipeline passes through hills and nullah and is vulnerable to landslides and flash floods.

While answering a question about the collection of bills, he said that there were no regular funds allocated for the upkeep of this facility and nominal charges received from villagers were being used to keep it operational.

He said that during the supply operations, the people, instead of waiting for water, rush to the pipeline to fill water from ‘contrived punctures’ in a bid to ‘reach first and fill first’.

While replying to the query about unlawful connections and pilferage, he said that a “good number of such connections were severed by him and cases were also registered against the violators in the recent past”.

Published in Dawn, June 10th, 2024