The Capital Development Authority, responsible to ensure basic facilities to the citizens of the federal capital, has not made any contingency plan to ensure water supply to water-starved residents.
The residents of “I” sectors are facing water shortage for the last few weeks but CDA’s Water Management Wing is unable to supply sufficient water despite tall claims of its high ups.
Aamir Khan, a resident in I-10/2 sector informed that men, women and children having buckets in their hands remain busy from morning to late night in bringing water from hand-pumps in their neighbourhood.
With the increasing temperature, the demand of water rises manifolds but the residents are provided water supply for a few minutes in 24 hours forcing them to adopt alternate arrangements,” Muhammad Ashraf, another resident said. He said every year, residents face water shortage, but the concerned department makes half-hearted efforts to resolve the issue.
Another resident informed that no concrete measures are taken to resolve the issue despite the fact that people face water shortage every year.
Kamran Mirza, a private employee, said that due to poor and inefficient water tankers service, the consumers hardly succeed to get water supply.
Another resident, Sajjad Hussain alleged that water tanker service staff was supplying water to only those streets in which the VVIPs are residing. He pointed out that last year, a number of families had to shift to their relatives in Rawalpindi and other neighbouring localities due to water shortage but the civic body is just busy in lip service despite putting huge funds for improvement of water tanker service and other measures to ensures in this regard.
A number of residents whose houses are located at elevated areas are now looking after for other options including digging out tube wells.
However, a CDA official claimed that in view of long hours of power outages, the authority has decided to use generators to operate tube wells to overcome water shortage in the metropolis. Although, the CDA chairman has directed the Water Management Wing to resolve the issue of water shortage in view of the sharp increase in water complaints in “I” and “G” sectors but the officials only give “OK” report to him. The CDA chairman had also directed the members engineering to hire the services of private water tankers in addition to the CDA water tankers but according to residents, practically, there was no relief.
