Water supply at Adiala Road to improve soon

Rawalpindi

There is a good news for public but bad news for 'tanker mafia' that residents of Adiala Road will get regular supply of ‘sarkari’ water from September 2017. 

The project of sinking 18 tube wells is near completion and officials are confident of meeting the deadline. The residents of Adiala Road, Defence Road, Usama Street, Munawar Colony, Saleha Street, Dama Syedan, Kalyal, Mubarak Lane, Nadir Street, Gulshanabad, Dhok Juma, Al-Mumtaz Colony and several other localities need around are getting only 250,000 gallons of water a day against their need of 900,000 gallons.

Majority of residents have been at the mercy of tanker mafia for years. They mafia charged Rs1,200 for a tanker in summer while Rs1,000 in winter.

Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) managing director (MD) Raja Shaukat told 'The News' that when they took over the area in 2013-14, there was only one tube well for the sprawling population. Only 5,000 people could benefit for this operational well at that time. Now we have five operational wells which cater to the needs of more than 2,5000 persons, he claimed.

He said that ever-increasing housing societies at Adiala Road are creating problems. They need to be regulated.  He said that 18 tube wells have been sunk here along highway which will provide water for the residents of Rawalpindi. He added that new connections would be opened soon. He said that we have the capacity of providing around 250,000 gallons water per day but long hours of load shedding has made electric motors useless. He also said that they were continuously working on Chahan Dam to provide water to the city. 

The MD said that it was sad to see people lined in queues at filtration plants, waiting for their turn to fill plastic cans with safe water. Some of the mosques have requested the faithful to perform ablution at homes.

Adiala Road is developing rapidly and with that the population. The process is not going to stop and water scarcity will persist even in coming years too.  Talking to 'The News' majority of the residents said they fear the problem will get worse in the coming years if the concerned departments do not make an effective strategy to deal with the situation. “How can we rely on tanker mafia and the powers that be must find viable solution to solve the problem. 

Muhammad Shakoor a resident of Munawar Colony said his area was supplied water only once in a week and that locals were left with no choice but to buy water from private water tankers. He has appealed to WASA to provide them water regularly the whole year. 

Muhammad Saleem Butt a resident of Adiala Road said the water shortage seemed endless and alleged that civic agencies and tube well operators exploit the situation and are busy in shamelessly minting money. He also said that residents of nearby areas fulfil their water needs via private tankers as there is no supply network in the area.

Bashir Ahmed, Muhammad Farooq, Raja Shahzad, Mukhtar Abbasi and several other have strongly criticised government that it has taken no solid step to solve the water problem. The MD has appealed to the consumers t pay their bills immediately so that they could serve them better.