PESHAWAR: Social rights’ groups on Thursday staged a demonstration in front of the Peshawar Press Club in a bid to force the government to provide potable water to the residents of the city.
The protestors assembled in front of the Peshawar Press Club and chanted slogans in favour of their demands.
District Naib Nazim Aftab Baluch and Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) President Hidayat Ullah Khan among others addressed the protestors.
The speakers said that from last three months they have been facing acute shortage of water, especially drinking water in Tank City and its surrounding areas. Majority dwellers of Tank city and its surrounding areas are poor and they cannot afford heavy expenditures on water. Even some of the transporters are getting benefits of the situation now by selling water. A large number of people who are engaged in livestock business are now shifting to other areas, added the speakers.
The speakers further informed that prolonged drought has badly affected the agriculture sector all over Tank and its adjoining Frontier Regions of Jandola. In this respect, from the last three months, they are holding frequent meetings with the concerned civil authorities as well as Public Health Engineering Department but all of them have yet to realise their responsibilities, they lamented.
District Tank Naib Nazim Mr Aftab Baluch told media that previous government in 2000 last approved 19 tube wells for Tank district. The Public Health Engineering Department issued tenders for digging and operation of these tube wells in August 2017 but the concerned Superintendent Engineer was reluctant to open the tenders and issue work orders. They alleged that the concerned SE is a close relative of Chief Minister and is reluctant to open the tenders for reasons known best to him. They demanded an early transfer to the concerned SE Public Health Engineering Department.
Aftab Baluch said that unless their problems are resolved, they will continue the protest. Earlier, they had arranged similar protest demonstrations and rallies in front of the deputy commissioner, SE public health engineering and district nazim offices in Tank.
Tank with a population of 393,000 is situated around 330 kilometres away from Peshawar.
The protesters said that after getting disheartened by the local administration, district nazim, MNA and MPA, they were forced to stage a protest in Peshawar.
