Laghman’s Badpakh residents lack access to potable water

MEHTARLAM (Pajhwok): Hundreds of families in Badpakh district of eastern Laghman province lack access to clean water and they walk for an hour to fetch water from a mountainous area.

Mohammad Jan Gull, a tribal elder of Badpakh’s Sanzali village, told Pajhwok Afghan News they had no access to potable water in their area.

Jan Gull said: “Due to the lack of water in our area, the residents need to travel for an hour and bring water on the back of animals”.

All 500 families in this village grapple with serious problems due to the lack of clean water, he added.

Malik Jan Mohammad, a resident of Andror village, proposed if water from the existing 100 natural fountains near the mountainous area was extended in pipes to villages, it would resolve their problem.

Meanwhile, local officials accept people’s lack of access to clean water in Badpukh district, but they say efforts are being made to address the problem as soon as possible.

Deputy district chief Maulvi Abdul Razaq Hanafi said the issue had been shared with the provincial administration which had promised to take practical steps to solve the problem.

Talking to Pajhwok, Rural Reconstruction and Development chief Maulvi Mohammad Zahir Zarkamar assured the issue of Badpakh district water shortage will be solved with the help of humanitarian organizations during next year.

He did not go into more details about this.

Badpakh is a remote mountainous district of eastern Laghman province and  according to officials, about 15,000 families live in it, and its people still face problems in areas of reconstruction, education, agriculture, and access to electricity.

aw/ma