Malakand village faces water shortage

MALAKAND: The residents of Shahkot in Palai town of the Malakand Agency ?have been facing acute drinking water shortage as all the available springs and previous pipelines providing water to the village had been damaged in the ongoing work on Swat Expressway.

The villagers at a meeting on Thursday demanded Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, Public Health Engineering Minister Shah Farman and deputy commissioner Malakand Agency to take note of their sufferings.

According to the villagers, around 40 houses were demolished in Shahkot on the route of the Swat Expressway, rendering the poor residents ?homeless.

“We are poor people but we couldn’t resist as the government wanted us to vacate our houses to build this expressway. Besides houses, all the old natural streams and springs as well as pipelines previously installed for providing drinking water to the village had also been damaged,” complained one of the elders, Faqir Mohammad.

He said the government had approved a tube-well for the village but it could not be operational as a local member and influential person wanted the tube-well to be dug on his property.

“He is adamant the tube well to be dug on his land. The villagers wanted it in another suitable place so that all the people can easily get water,” said the elderly man.

The villagers complained that there has been severe water shortage for the people as well as for the livestock in the village and demanded the high ups to take notice of the situation.