GWADAR: Due to lack of rains, many districts in Makran division are facing a drought-like situation, it has emerged.

According to a survey, in Panjgur alone 70 karezes (underground water canals) have dried forcing many families to move to other places. Sub-soil water level has depleted in other parts of the division as well, said a farmer. “Rains are rare in Makran, and lots of tubewells are being installed with the result that water level is going down with each passing day,” he said.

Gwadar District Council chairman Babu Gulab said that the remote and surrounding areas of Gwadar were under the grip of drought. As a result, water was being provided in these areas through bowsers.

Babu Mehrab, who lives in Kolanch Ambi, a remote area of Gwadar, said: “In Kolanch Ambi, 70 per cent of the population has left their villages and settled in Gwadar, Pasni and Karachi.”

Haji Fida Hussain Dashti, who is chairman of Kech District Council, told Dawn: “Our tehsils of Kech district — Dasht, Zamuran, Tump, Mand and Ball Negor — are experiencing a severe water shortage. Agriculture in these areas been affected for lack of water, which is why hundreds of people have left their native places.”Due to the drought, date palms in Makran division, which is a major source of income for people, have also been affected, he added.

Published in Dawn, June 23rd, 2017