Clean water

In Pakistan there are approximately 100 plus registered water companies,. In a suo-motu notice which was taken by the former chief justice of Pakistan last year he imposed Re1 per litre tax on the water extracted from the ground by these water companies. In addition to that, the representatives of the government food authority were also directed to examine the samples regarding the quality of bottled water. In a strange move, the water companies raised the prices of their bottles and now a 19-litre bottle market price is around Rs250 which was selling at Rs210 to Rs200 three to four months back. Also, there has been no update regarding tax collection from these companies.

As far as the new ventures of providing clean drinking water it seems a daunting task at the moment by the current government. It really seems now that clean water, which is considered a necessity of life, is currently in the reach of the rich and privileged class only.

Sohail Zafar

Chaklala