Suo motu notice over Balochistan’s tehsil drinking dirty water for years

AFP photo Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar took suo motu notice on Saturday against a water scarcity in Bhagnari tehsil of Balochistan’s Bolan district, which has forced locals to rely on murky pond water. The water supply to Bhagnari stopped over 15 years back. It was a government-run system, under which water from Sani from Shoran was supplied to Bhagnari. But the supply stopped after people started digging to cultivate crops and to eventually move there. Ever since then, residents of Bhagnari have used the pond, which has water accumulated after the floods. A water supply scheme called the Kachhi Water Scheme Project was initiated for Bhagnari in the early 2000s, during the era of General (retd) Pervez Musharraf. It was inaugurated by the then governor of Balochistan, Justice (retd) Amir-ul-Mulk Mengal. It received water from the Pat Feeder Canal. Under the project, Bakhtiarabad town in Nasirabad district and then Bhagnari were to receive water. However, water sent from the Pat Feeder Canal is said to finish in Bakhtiarabad and not reach Bhagnari. The population of around 50,000 people of Bhagnari has asked the government for a steady supply of water. The chief justice has therefore issued notices to the advocate general, chief secretary, and Balochistan health secretary, summoning them for a hearing on December 14.