CHITRAL: For the first time in Chitral, the women of Wardab area along with their little children came out of houses and staged protest over non-availability of electricity and clean drinking water facilities.
The women along with their children and male members of family staged a sit-in at Osek Bridge. The protesting women said even in this modern era, their area is deprived of basic facilities of electricity and clean drinking water.
They said a 106MW grid station has been completed in Golian area of Chitral which is providing electricity to several areas outside Chitral, but its own Wardab village remains deprived.
The area residents said the government has not initiated any clean drinking water project in the village and they are compelled to use the water from the river for consumption and other uses. They said different diseases are spreading in the area due to the use of unsafe water.
Inzer Gul, a local elder, said while talking to this scribe that people from Gojar, Pathan, Chitrali and other origins live in the village, but they have been kept deprived on the basic facility of electricity.
A woman participant of the sit-in told that her children cannot study in the night due to lack of electricity. She said the children are troubled by hot weather as there are no fans. Another woman said they fetch water from Chitral River in pots on their heads which is a tiresome and difficult exercise.
She said the women find it difficult to come out of their houses and bring water from river, while the river water is also not fit for consumption and causes different diseases.