SAR-I-PUL (Pajhwok): Residents of the Sheram locality of central Sar-i-Pul province have been facing a drinking water shortage over the past 30 years. As a consequence, they have to purchase a gallon of water for 25-30 afs.
Sheram area is located 90 kilometres from Sara-i-Pul City, the provincial capital.
Residents say in the past they would fetch drinking water from rainwater ponds. But those ponds have been damaged and people are in trouble as a result.
Abdul Bashir, head of the Alasgar village development council in Sheram area, complained they had been faced with a drinking water shortage for the past several years.
“Over the past 20 years, inhabitants of Sheram area had been faced with this issue. In the past, people consumed rainwater stored in ponds,” he recalled.
Mullah Zainullah, another resident of Alsgar village, urged the government to supply them with clean drinking water.
“Now that we have to buy drinking water, we want the Islamic Emirate to address our water-related issue,” he said.
Local officials pledged all-out efforts to provide elemental services, including drinking water, to residents.
Governor Spokesperson Ibrahim Mokalef said: “We will address this issue, it is government responsibility to provide services to the masses including the provision of clean drinking water.”
Mullah Juma Haqyar, head of the village development council, acknowledged the problem of water shortage faced by the masses. He said over 7,000 families living in the area were facing acute water scarcity.
“Local people are facing the water shortage issue and they have appealed to the government and NGO for help,” he said.
One key reason for the water shortage in Sheram was the mountainous tarrain, he said, adding digging up deep wells would not provide a remedy.
nh/mud
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