Nightmare for Mingora: Crystal clear water turns into stream of filth

Swat deputy tehsil nazim says steps will be taken to clean stream

MINGORA: Once famous for its crystal clear water, the Mingora stream now flows with filth generated due to increase in population in the city. The stream is of water that flows from Marghuzar Hills and Fizza Gut, runs through Mingora and joins Swat River in Ugdu.

“We used to drink from the stream, but its mismanagement and city’s poor drainage system have made the water unfit for human consumption,” a 70-year-old resident of Mingora, Khursheed Ahmad, said while talking to The Express Tribune.

A source of pure drinking water for the populace, the water in Mingora stream has now become a grotesque picture with city’s waste and garbage seen floating in it in abundance.

Similarly, tehsil councillor Dr Khalid Mahmood told The Express Tribune, “The dirty water and foul smell that rises from Mingora stream is the main cause of waterborne diseases.” He also blamed the municipal committee for turning a blind eye to the situation. “The Mingora stream flows just in front of the office of the municipal committee. One can easily judge the performance of the authority by simply looking at the stream.”

Another local, Muhammad Rehman, said the incompetence of municipal authorities and interference by local politicians led to the unhygienic situation in the stream. “The collusion of municipal authorities and local politicians allow owners of the buildings alongside the Mingora stream to dump their waste directly into it.”

When contacted, a tehsil naib nazim in Swat, Fazal Khan, said the tehsil administration was devising a policy to clean the Mingora stream once again. He pointed out steps were being taken to make the municipal committee free from political influence and punish those who deliberately pollute the Mingora stream.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 16^th, 2016.