GUJAR KHAN, May 22: The residents of Pind Dadan Khan and the adjoining areas have no other option but to consume highly contaminated rain water which gets accumulated in the dirty ponds.

The only water sources for the people of the area have been polluted by the human wastes that drain into the ponds during rains as these ponds lie in the proximity of the thickly populated areas. The underground water has turned brackish due to the salty water that is drained out of the Khewra Salt Mines.

The worst sufferers are over 15,000 residents of Tobha, Dhoke Basera, Kachi and other localities in the desert area of Thal. According to the residents, the successive governments and local representatives have been making promises to resolve the issue but in vain. On the other hand, the vast agricultural land in the area has changed into desert due to the salty water of the Khewra Salt Mines. The previously fertile land has become totally unfit for agricultural purposes.

Syed Asad Bokhari, a social worker said: “The population of Pind Dadan Khan tehsil is decreasing day by day because the people are continuously migrating to other areas to earn their livelihood as the farmland has become uncultivable due to the salinity.”

Noor Hussain Chughtai, another resident of the area while talking to Dawn said that the rain water accumulated in small ponds was the last hope for the people as well for the cattle for their survival.

He said the people who could afford had installed water pumps at the banks of the ponds to suck water from the marshy ground but it, too, was highly contaminated and diseases like hepatitis, gastro etc were common among the residents.

Zaheer Awan, another resident of the area said that the previous government had planned supply of water from Naromi Dhan area located several miles away from Tobha. He pointed out that only an inch diameter pipe line was supplying water to the town on weekly basis and the 3km long open air water duct was also exposing water to environmental contamination.

The people of the area demanded of the authorities concerned to take up the issue on humanitarian grounds and make concrete arrangements to supply them with the clean drinking water. They also called upon the government to save their farmland from the salinity so that they might earn their living by cultivating the land.