Punjab Aab-e-Pak Authority: 1,538 filter plants to be operational soon: governor

LAHORE:Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar has said that 1,538 water filtration plants under the Punjab Aab-e-Pak Authority will be installed in different provincial constituencies to provide clean drinking water to the masses without discrimination.

Addressing a reception given to parliamentarians at the Governor’s House here Sunday, he said Rs5.5 billion would be spent on provision of clean drinking water in the first phase, adding that transparency was the core value of the project.

Provincial Ministers Mian Mahmood-ur-Rasheed, Noman Langrial, Hussain Bukhari, Hussain Jahanian Gardezi, Dr Akhtar Malik, Mian Khalid Mahmood, Fayyaz-ul-Hassan Chohan, Ansar Majeed Niazi, Ajmal Cheema, Chaudhry Zaheer-ud-Din, Raja Rashid Hafeez, Khayal Ahmed Kastro, Sardar Muhammad Asif Nakai and a large number of MPAs were present on the occasion. Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Sardar Dost Muhammad Mazari and Special Assistant to Chief Minister (SACM) Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan were also in attendance.

“I, as Patron in Chief, Punjab Aab-e-Pak Authority, am pleased to announce that the authority is ready to deliver after two years of hard work by civil servants as per vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan”, he said, adding that it was a hard nut to crack to break the bureaucratic bottleneck to make the authority work.

Sarwar assured the parliamentarians that transparency would be ensured in these projects, adding that no cases of commission and omission would be possible in the Punjab Aab-e-Pak Authority under a vigilant system. He said the PTI government did not believe in temporary solutions to the clean drinking water issue in the province, adding that the authority was taking tangible steps to resolve the issue on permanent basis.

He said that filtration plants would be set up in all provincial constituencies of Punjab without any political discrimination and clean drinking water would be provided to the people in the constituencies of the members of the coalition as well as opposition parties.

The governor said opposition’s criticism of the government's policies was their political compulsion but the people were well aware that Prime Minister Imran Khan had no personal agenda, adding that the government pursued development and prosperity of the country and no obstacle would be tolerated in safeguarding public interests.

The provincial ministers and MPAs appreciated the governor’s efforts for the provision of potable water across Punjab.

Earlier, Punjab Aab-e-Pak Authority Chairman Dr Shakeel Ahmed and Chief Executive Syed Zahid Aziz presented a detailed briefing on the projects to the audience.