‘Citizens in capital to have low-cost mineral water’

Islamabad: Ministry of Science and Technology has conceived an idea to launch its own mineral water through Pakistan Council for Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) and hiring the services of any private company to ensure availability of clean drinking water to the citizens at very low price.

According to the official source in the ministry, the idea of Minister of Science and Technology, Chaudhry Fawad Hussain of providing mineral water through PCRWR at the cost of one or two rupee is not practicable however it can be provided to the masses at very low cost in comparison to that provided by other brands.

It is not the matter of only acquiring clean water from PCRWR but involves cost of packaging and transporting it to different localities. The ministry can provide mineral water to the citizens at minimum cost without having profit margin which will definitely facilitate the masses , the official source said. The idea of launching this initiative was conceived by the minister mainly to prevent the citizens from the use of unsafe bottled water being provided by many of the brands at the very high price.

The ministry will hire the services of a private company for packaging of the mineral water while water will be taken from the filtration plant of PCRWR.

Initially, this service will be launched in the federal capital and replicated in the provinces afterward, the source revealed.

The mineral water will be served initially at the government offices and then be available for the commercial purposes.

A number of citizens through twitter appreciated this step terming Fawad Chaudhry as an intelligent and smart person, however, demanded to seek alternate of plastic bottle which pose health hazards. The authorities in PCRWR, when contacted, were of the view that this organization is not a commercial entity and has the mandate of monitoring the quality of bottled water not providing the clean water to the citizens.

PCRWR issues a bottled water quality monitoring report quarterly and also provide water quality testing and evaluation services through its laboratories across the country.

According to the officials of PCRWR, the idea of launching mineral water through PCRWR is not feasible and practical at all for implementation. It is only the idea of the minister so far.