BATTAGRAM: Upper parts of the Battagram district have been facing acute water shortage for last several years, forcing the residents to fetch water on donkeys from far off natural springs.

Around 7,500 residents of Kolai village council and surrounding areas have no water supply scheme, forcing them to bring water from natural springs five kilometres away.

Amir Ali, 12, said it had been his routine to load two gallons of water on his donkey from a natural spring for home.

“I do not go to school because I believe I can survive without being educated but can’t without water.”

“I regularly visit the spring along with my donkey and fetch water from a spring five kilometres downhill which takes two hours,” he deplored.

The young boy added that he did not know how his elders brought water in the past.

Abdur Rehman, 70, said the area was deliberately kept deprived of the basic right of water as elected representatives only made hallow claims.

“Since my childhood, we are facing water shortage,” he regretted.

Abdul Faraz, a social activist, who has been campaigning for the water issue for the last 20 years, said the locals had staged protests and hunger strikes at Battagram Bazaar, but the issue remained unresolved.

“I have knocked every door to help initiate a water supply scheme for Kolai village but the politicians who call themselves public servants have done nothing but make hollow promises.” he said

Mr Faraz said local women, children and men have the only job to fetch water from distant springs.

Ikramullah Shah, executive engineer, public health engineering department, Battagram, when contacted, told this scribe that it was not the only issue of Kolai, but also the entire Battagram district.

“Sixty per cent of the population enjoys the public health-ensured water supply, while the rest has not been provided with the government-approved schemes due to funds shortage,” he said

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2020