RAWALPINDI: Water shortage, sanitation, health and education in the civilian areas of the cantonment are some of the major issues the political parties will exploit in the upcoming local government elections.

Besides faulty taxation system, the residents and traders face problems in getting their building plans approved by the cantonment boards.

The political parties will also highlight the condition of roads and streets in their electioneering.

The residents of the civilian areas said the sanitation staff of the cantonment boards collected garbage only from army residential areas while they had to hire private sanitary workers for disposing of the refuse.

Shujaat Haider Naqvi, a local leader of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), told Dawn that there was an acute water shortage even in winter season, let alone hot and humid summer.

“If voted to power, we will bring water from the Indus River to the cantonment areas, besides improving the sanitation system as the civil bureaucracy only focuses on the army residential areas,” he said.

Hafiz Hussain Ahmed of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was a bit pessimistic about the role of the elected members in solving the people’s civic issues. Talking to Dawn, he said the cantonment boards had to work under the army and civilian bureaucracy.

“The members will just raise their voice against the water shortage and lack of health and education facilities in the civilian residential areas. There is a dire need to establish hospitals in the cantonment areas which will provide free of cost health services to the residents,” he said.

He said that in 70s, the cantonment boards would run the higher secondary schools but former dictator General Ziaul Haq included all the educational institutions in federal government education directorate. He said the cantonment boards were running only the primary schools and “we will try to raise the issue to increase the number of schools in each ward”.

The local PML-N leader said there was only one government-run hospital in the cantonment areas which too lacked medicines and equipment. He said the residents were referred to three government run hospitals of Rawalpindi city.

Zahid Kazmi, the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) Punjab North general secretary, said the PTI would highlight the issue of water, health services and problems of low income group localities.

He said that there was no hospital in Chaklala Cantonment Board area. Each ward needs dispensaries to cater to the need of the residents.

The PTI leader said the federal governments of PPP and the PML-N failed to solve water problem in their tenures, though they were running the affairs of the cantonment boards.

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2015

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