Capital Metropolitan Council resents natural gas crisis

PESHAWAR: Capital Metropolitan Council on Wednesday witnessed a heated discussion on the natural gas crisis in Peshawar with calls from the members to take up the issue with the relevant quarters.

The members expressed grave concern over the lack of Sui gas supply in most areas of the provincial capital as they spoke during the council’s session.

They said the city had faced low natural gas load-shedding and low-pressure issues since the winter but now the situation had worsened as the majority of the areas were going without the gas supply for most of the time.

The angry members said the lack of gas supply had disturbed the routine life and needed an urgent solution.

They demanded Mayor Zubair Ali to take up the issue with the government, fearing that it may lead to a law and order situation if the problem was not resolved immediately.

The members expressed concern over the performance of various government departments and companies. They said the Water and Sanitation Services Peshawar (WSSP) company performance was very poor.

The members said the WSSP had never tackled the cleanliness issues in the provincial capital, saying that the company either lacked the capacity or the will to make the city clean.

They said the WSSP officials were receiving huge salaries but the company’s performance was below expectations. A member from Sufaid Dheri, Muhammad Arif, said the government had established the Building Control Authority which was an infringement upon the rights of the Capital Metropolitan Government.

He presented a resolution in the council, demanding the abolition of the authority and handing over its affairs to the Capital Metropolitan Government.

The mayor assured to take up the gas crisis with the Sui Northern gas Pipelines Limited officials.

He also directed the officials to launch a massive anti-encroachment drive in the city and graveyards.

The mayor said a weekly cleanliness drive would start in the provincial capital next week. He asked all the chairmen to work collectively for the development of the provincial capital.

The mayor said all elected representatives should sink political differences to work for the revival of the city’s glory.