Protests by people of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari against "water shortage" enter second day

He said that the people of this province in many cities, villages, and even nomadic areas are facing drinking water problems and that "all the plains of this province are in a critical and near-critical state," but he did not mention government mismanagement in addressing the province's water situation.

The representative of four counties from Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, however, went on to threaten that "the people of this province will not allow the digging of a single meter of tunnel to transport water."

Officials of the Islamic Republic always cite the lack of rainfall as the main reason for this situation in most regions of the country, but this is despite repeated warnings from environmental activists about the need to stop rice cultivation in desert provinces, prevent the drilling of unauthorized wells, and fix the rotting water supply pipes in the country, which continues to face indifference.

The unfulfilled promises of the authorities and their inattention to providing water to the people of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari have led to protests in this regard since Sunday, while Isfahan province has also witnessed major protests in recent days against the province's water mismanagement.

Isfahan witnessed a gathering of farmers protesting the cutting of water rights and the drying up of the Zayandeh River since November 7. These protests gradually became more widespread with the support of other groups, until the largest gathering was held on November 18, with the participation of thousands of people in Isfahan. During this gathering, many people chanted protest slogans in the dry bed of the Zayandeh River.

In August of this year, widespread protests were held in Khuzestan, focusing on the problem of water shortages, which were violently responded to by security forces. There is still no exact figure for the number of people killed and injured in these crackdowns.

Ali Akbar Mehrabian, Minister of Energy in the Ebrahim Raisi government, had previously emphasized the "need to recite the prayer for rain," and Vahid Naradi Pargoli, head of religious and cultural affairs at the Ministry of Energy in Khuzestan Province, had announced in a letter addressed to a number of water and electricity managers in the province, "the order of Engineer Mehrabian, Minister of Energy, to benefit from the prayer for rain (the prayer of 19 pages of Sajjadiyah)."