PESHAWAR, Jan 19: Water supply to refugees at a settlement in tribal areas has been resumed after negotiations and identification of a different route for tankers, according to the UN information service.

“We have found a new transport route for the tankers and the water supply is normal so the refugees will not be affected,” said the commissioner for Afghan refugees in the NWFP, Mushtaq Ahmad Ali Zai.

The route to the Shalman camp was changed two days ago following a contractual dispute between an international NGO and local residents.

Supply to some 10,000 refugees was disrupted on Jan 12, according to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

“We visited the area on Tuesday with the commissioner and negotiated with the elders to allow the water to be transported through a different route,” UNHCR’s senior programme officer Ahmed Warsame said.

He said such problems were common in the tribal agency where local leaders often took matters in their own hands.

The water, supplied by the Danish NGO Daacar, is rationed among the refugees who receive approximately 20 litres per person per day. However, the blockage meant that supply was down by 50 per cent, with only three tankers out of seven allowed to pass through.

“Fortunately, it is winter and not summer; otherwise, the situation would have been worse,” he said.—PPI