Water shortage: Haripur residents hold PTI MPA, district nazim responsible

Youth councillor threatens to hold protest if issue not addressed

HARIPUR: Residents of Swabi Maira village have held a PTI MPA and Haripur district nazim responsible for the persisting water shortage in the area.

While speaking to journalists on Sunday, Youth Councillor Rizwan Ali said there was only one water supply scheme for a village with a population of 5,000 people.

He said the scheme was established a decade ago with the financial support of an NGO. He added the operation was managed by a committee of villagers who were collecting bills at the rate of Rs250 per month from each house.



He pointed out since the tube well machines were outdated and the quantity of water supplied to villagers dwindled, the area was facing an acute crisis.

He maintained women and children had to fetch water from ponds in far-flung areas, making their lives miserable.



The youth councilor said Public Health Engineering Department installed a new water tube well for the village some three years ago, but it had yet to be made operational for unknown reasons.

“This is clear negligence on the part of PTI MPA Faisal Zaman who won from this area twice, but failed to address basic problems of locals,” he said.

He added people of Swabi Maira had been electing PML-N leader Pir Sabir Shah and Faisal Zaman, but both failed to deliver.

He also accused Haripur district nazim Adil Islam of being ignorant towards the difficulties faced by people of the area. He threatened to protest if their grievances were not addressed within the next couple of days.

The PTI MPA was not available to comment on
the matter.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 13^th, 2016.