Contaminated water: Hayatabad Phase 3 residents suffer health hazards

PESHAWAR: The residents of Phase-3 in Hayatabad have complained that they have been suffering from multiple health issues due to contaminated drinking water for the last few weeks.

They asked the provincial government and director general Peshawar Development Authority (PDA) to take notice of the issue.

“We have been complaining for the last few weeks but neither our elected representative Taimur Saleem Jhagra nor director general PDA listened to us to resolve the issue of contaminated drinking water,” said a resident of the locality.

A senior retired government official said most of the residents had developed multiple health issues by drinking contaminated water.

“Imagine we are living in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s best township but there is no other way to avoid this polluted water. Most of the dwellers have been suffering from gastroenteritis, enteric fever, etc,” he added.

He said those badly affected are children and senior citizens on account of use of contaminated drinking water.

According to the residents, they had spoken to local officials of the water supply department but they had no clue why the drinking water being provided to Hayatabad Phase-3 had become polluted.

The doctors in the Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) now make fun of the patients who go to them from Phase-3 as they call them victims of contaminated water.

“The issue has become known among the doctors and whenever patients from our locality go to HMC, the doctors on duty immediately recognise them and say they must have come from Hayatabad Phase-III and would have used the contaminated water,” said the senior of the area.

Also, there is now apprehension of an epidemic of enteric fever in the said locality, he said.

According to the residents, the doctors at HMC have termed it as a bombshell for the dwellers of the said locality.

The residents also demanded of the public health department to arrange an immediate mass immunisation drive against the spread of enteric fever in the area otherwise it would cause serious health issues to them if ignored.

When contacted, the PDA Director-General, Ammara Khan, said steps were being taken to improve the water quality there.She promised to share a report on the issue on Monday.