MARDAN, Sept 19: About 70 drinking water supply schemes were closed in the Mardan district following merger of the Public Health Department (PHD) with the Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA), creating severe shortage of drinking water for the locals.

An official of the PHD told this correspondent that former NWFP governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah was responsible for merging the two entities four years back without consultation. That ‘ill-advised’ decision not only damaged the whole department but also created problems for water consumers, he said.

With the merger of PHD and C&W, “all our assets, including vehicles and stores, were distributed to other departments and our officers were given a raw deal because most of the officers of the C&W had been promoted after the amalgamation”.

The official said that the two departments were merged only in the NWFP while no such decision had been taken in other provinces. Donor agencies, which earlier used to provide assistance to the PHD, stopped giving funds because there was no health department in the province.

He expressed surprise that after four years when it was their turn of promotion, the C&W department had started a dispute for PHD separation from the C&W.

He said that the TMA was itself a fund-starved body and it was difficult for it to manage “our department as well”. He suggested that the PHD should be revived along with its assets and a separate ministry since the government placed extra emphasis on providing clean drinking water to all the residents by 2007.

He claimed that availability of clean drinking water would only be possible if health department managed its assets and staff. He said the population was increasing by the day but the department was wound up by the ex-governor without realizing its consequences.

He supported the strike call of the employees and closing of the schemes and asked the government to revive the PHD in its original form.