MANSEHRA: The councillors-elect here have threatened to launch a protest campaign if the provincial government failed place the tehsil municipal administration (TMA) Mansehra in category ‘A’.

“Mansehra is the second largest revenue generating TMA after Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but it has been placed in category ‘B’, which is unacceptable to people here. It should be given the status of category ‘A’ and funds accordingly,” said Khurram Khan, tehsil councillor-elect, while speaking at a press conference here the other day. Other councillors, including Mian Ibrar Hussain and Umer Farooq, were also present on the occasion.

Mr Khurram said that TMA Mansehra was one of the oldest civic service providers in the province and earlier had the category ‘A’ status. He said that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led government now wanted to deprive the people of Mansehra of their rights, but they would resist this move at every forum.

“We are supposed to protect the civic rights of our people. Placing the civic body in category ‘B’ means cutting its development funds and we would not allow the government to deprive our people of their rights,” he said.

Councillors threaten protest if demand not accepted

He said that if the TMA was not given its due statue of category ‘A’ the people would start a protest campaign here and also stage a sit-in in front of the provincial assembly and Chief Minister’s Secretariat.

WATER SHORTAGE: People of Mansehra and its adjoining areas have been facing water shortage as one of the two tube wells of tehsil municipal administration’s water supply scheme has gone dry while water from the other one is allegedly being stolen through illegal connections.

“We are trying to meet the water demand of city and its adjoining areas, but we have been facing a tough situation as a tube well of the main water source has dried up and water from the other tube-well is being stolen through 1,500 illegal connections on it,” said Mohammad Shafique, the head of TMA water department, when contacted.

The water supply, which was suspended earlier this month by TMA, couldn’t be restored as yet. The two main water sources – Bothkattha water supply scheme and Ichar Nullah scheme – were the only sources to meet the water requirements of the city and nearby areas.

Water supplied through Bothkattha scheme, established in 1962, is highly contaminated and could not be used for drinking purpose. The Ichar Nullah water supply scheme was established in 1993. This scheme also could not meet the water needs as currently only one tube well of the scheme is operational and the other has dried up.

“We can meet half of the water needs of city from the operational tube well, but the theft of water is a big problem,” said Mr Shafique. He said that despite repeated operations the illegal connections could not be ended.

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2015

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