Rawalpindi
The residents of Railway Scheme No 9, Rawalpindi are facing great difficulties due to non-provision of drinking water to them for the last 3 months despite submission of several complaints with the concerned officials i.e. Secretary Railway Cooperative Housing Society, Rawalpindi, but to no avail.
Talking to this correspondent, the residents, Ch. Tahir Javed, Mohd Atta, Khalid Mahmood, Jehangir Butt etc alleged that the society officials as well as the staff deputed at the said society give illegal water connections by taking gratifications even to a Car Wash Service Centre (Plot No 543, as this plot is a residential plot but due to cooperation of management of the Society the same plot was use for commercial purposes). Due to shortage of water the residents of the area are facing great difficulties. It is the duty of the Society to provide water to the all residents of the area. According to the residents, it is the prime responsibility of the authorities of Railway Cooperative Housing Society to provide facility of water supply to them.
After failing to get positive response from the concerned quarters, the residents of this locality have now appealed to the Punjab Chief Minister Mohammad Shahbaz Sharif to look into the matter and direct the concerned persons to take immediate measures for provision of water to the citizens of Railway Scheme No. 9, as the Holy Month of Ramazan is underway and due to non-provision of this basic facility it is very difficult to survive.
In this connection, the affected residents have also written application to the Punjab chief minister in which they have demanded early solution of problem and action against the concerned authorities for depriving them of this basic facility.
When this correspondent tried to approach Raja Arif, secretary of the society, his cell was found continuously busy and out of range. However, Malik Afsar, Member of Executive Body of the Society agreed the fact that problem of water scarcity exists in Railway Scheme No. 9. He said it is because that the level of ground water has fallen considerably because of which this problem prevails in summer season. Now the society has decided to connect a 1,400 feet pipe line with the major pipe line at Gulzar-e-Quaid in order to resolve this issue.
Similarly, Malik Afsar while agreeing the fact told that the authority is planning to disconnect water supply to the Car Wash Service Centre at Plot No. 543 in order to provide supply of water to the affected residents of this locality.
Malik Afsar assured that the water scarcity problem at Railway Scheme No. 9 would be resolved on war footing.