RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) on Monday started a campaign to recover water dues outstanding against consumers and snapped 65 water connections in different areas.

After water supply to the residents was reduced to twice a week, they stopped paying their bills.

The residents claim that supply was not regular in their area and they had to hire private water tanker on the daily basis.

“We are suffering from water shortage and got water from private water tankers. We have to pay water charges to the RCB otherwise, they will not issue birth and death certificates to the residents,” said Mohammad Abbas, a resident of Afshan Colony.

Mohammad Jamil, a resident of Allahabad, said they had made bores at their homes to overcome the water shortage.

The RCB spokesman Qaisar Mehmood said the water branch had started the campaign to recover water charges in Ahmedabad, Quaid-i-Azam Colony, Naseerabad, Kamalabad, Gawalmandi, Allama Iqbal Colony, Saddar, Westridge and severed 65 water connections.

He said the team had recovered Rs2,839,583 from the defaulters and the recovery would be improved in the coming months. He said the illegal connections would also be snapped if the consumers failed to regularise their water connections.

He said that the water branch services would be improved in coming days as all the record had been computerized. “More than 45,000 consumers of RCB will get computerised water bills from next month,” he said.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2017