Water supply to citizens of garrison city, Rawalpindi has been suspended on Saturday after ‘local mafia,’ allegedly backed by local politicians, added poison in the Rawal Dam, which has killed 240 tonnes of fish so far.
FIR has also been registered against the local mafia for pouring of the toxic substance.
According to the FIR, available with Pakistan Today, lodged by Punjab Fisheries Department Fisheries Deputy Director Mohammad Sadiq Buzdar, people from the mafia were stopped from fishing and boating in the dam as it was already banned and section 144 is imposed by the administration.
The case was filed at Secretariat police station, while the relevant authorities have taken water samples from the dam. Likewise, the Pakistan Army personnel also reached the site to collect water samples.
It was earlier reported by Pakistan Today on July 9 that the Lake View management has criminally closed their eyes over the matter of private business men running, renting their boats to visitors despite the Capital Development Authority’s (CDA) ban on it since there is section 144 imposed by the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration last year.
“Section 144 was imposed by the administration after an incident which takes two lives on Eid festival, the business is now again on peak, and which may result in another untoward incident,” read the news, but no authority took notice of that.
When contacted, a WASA spokesperson said that they test water samples from Rawal Dam every day and so far nothing has been found regarding poisonous substance being present in the dam.
It is noted that Rawal Dam is the major source of water supply to the city of four million people and the dam provides an estimated 24 million gallons of water to Rawalpindi on daily basis. However, an official of WASA said that laboratory testing showed that water from Rawal Lake is “fit for human consumption.”
Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Mushtaq Ahmed said that samples of water from Rawal Lake were tested and were fine for drinking. “ICT administration also started investigating the matter that why scores of fish started turning up dead in the city’s Rawal Lake since monsoon rains began three days earlier in the week,” he said.
Talking to Pakistan Today, SHO Secretariat Hakim Khan said that investigation in the matter that whether anyone pours poison in the Dam or it was a disease has been triggered and samples were taken which were sent to laboratory for further analysis. “If anyone found involved or guilty, strict action would be taken against them,” he said.
In the application, the fisheries department stated that the accused were engaged in illegal fishing and boating activities in Rawal Dam, which was reported to the police and also recorded in several FIRs. It is noted that local police had carried out an operation against this mafia, during which 20 boats were confiscated and five people were arrested.
The department said that following the operation, the local mafia threatened us that they would contaminate and intoxicate the water to endanger the fish and public at large.
An early chemical test report and copies of earlier FIRs have also been attached with the application.
Local residents claim that for the past month, garbage trucks have been dumping waste in the lake during the night. However, authorities suspected that the contamination may have been chemical in nature.
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