June 05, 2006	Monday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 8, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, June 4: Opposition Democratic Alliance senators have submitted an adjournment motion to the Senate Secretariat seeking a debate on the reports of contaminated water being supplied to the residents of some sectors in Islamabad.

Sources in the opposition parties told Dawn that four members of the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP), the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) and the Pakhtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) have submitted the motion to the Senate Secretariat on May 30.

Through their motion, the opposition senators have drawn the attention of Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao to the laboratory reports indicating that the water being provided to the residents of sectors F-6/1, G-7/4, I-8/3 and F-11/4 from four filtration plants is “unsafe for human consumption as it possessed bacteria”, which was extremely dangerous for human life and a cause of many diseases.

The motion has been moved by Raza Rabbani and Dr Safdar Abbasi of the PPP, Ishaq Dar of the PML-N and Raza Mohammad Raza of the PkMAP.

The motion has been based on a news report published in Dawn on April 28. According to the report four out of 10 water filtration plants installed in the federal capital are providing contaminated water to the citizens, resulting in spread of diseases.

The opposition members during the pre-budget debate in the National Assembly on Friday also criticised the government for supply of contaminated water that has caused diseases and deaths of people in many cities.

After being accused of negligence in tackling the recent spread of gastroenteritis due to contaminated water supplies and reports of many deaths, the government agreed with an opposition proposal that a bipartisan lower house committee should probe into the matter and take it up with the provincial governments.

Opposition and treasury benches members spoke during a debate on several opposition adjournment motions about waterborne diseases in Faisalabad and Sheikhupura, Karachi, Hyderabad and Badin.

According to Raja Nadir Pervez of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) his home district of Faisalabad alone had about 29,000 gastroenteritis patients and that several of them, mostly children, had died. MMA member, Mohammad Hanif Abbasi, said the situation was not much different in Rawalpindi where, according to him, more than half of tubewells meant to supply drinking water were shut down and water pipelines in many areas were damaged.

Fauzia Habib of the People’s Party Parliamentarians said every second home in Rawalpindi had a hepatitis B patient because of the contaminated water.

Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) recently conducted microbiological and chemical tests of the samples collected from 10 filtration plants recently installed by the Capital Development Authority (CDA). The laboratory report revealed that water provided by four plants, installed in sectors F-11/4, G-7/4, F- 6/1 and I-8/3, was unsafe for human consumption.

A survey conducted during the collection of water samples had also found a filtration plant installed at Umer Road in Rawalpindi non-functional. According to the residents of the area, the plant was installed only eight months ago. All the taps of the plant were missing now.

The report says filtration plants in Rawalpindi are in extremely poor condition compared to those in Islamabad, and also lack proper hygiene.

The report says in order to ensure proper long-term functioning of these plants installed at a cost of millions of rupees, citizen’s committees should be formed and involved in monitoring to ensure that the relevant authorities follow due maintenance and operating rules.

It may be mentioned here that tests conducted by the PCRWR recently had also found a good number of tubewells in Rawalpindi providing unsafe water to the residents, however, the Water and Sanitation Agency is yet to address the issue.

Agencies add: The number of patients affected with stomach related diseases and cholera has increased in government hospitals of Rawalpindi. Thousands of patients, majority of them children suffering from cholera and stomach related diseases visit the hospitals daily.

Meanwhile, sales of unhygienic drink in Rawalpindi is on the rise and authorities concerned have turned blind eyes toward the issue. There is no area in Rawalpindi where the bushiness of unhygienic drink is not witnessed. Daily hundreds of patients suffering from water borne diseases are admitted into hospitals.