ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Mian Saqib Nisar on Saturday visited various katchi abadis in the capital as well as Polyclinic.

After observing the situation in the slums areas, the CJP assured the residents that he would play his role in addressing their problems.

Hearing a case regarding katchi abadis on Friday, the chief justice had announced that he would visit the slum areas to see the situation on the ground himself.

On Saturday, he visited different areas and even saw the state of the nullah passing through the slums.

A resident of 100 Quarters in Sector F-6, Ashfaq Gill, told Dawn that in the morning he learned about the visit of the CJP as mediapersons started visiting the area.

“We arranged bouquets and decided to give a warm welcome to the chief justice. At around 2pm , Justice Saqib Nisar arrived but the security staff directed us not to gather around him due to security reasons. The CJP remained in the slum areas for over half an hour and took into account the problems faced by the residents,” Mr Gill said.

“We got ownership of the houses in 1992 but could not get the basic facilities because so far the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has not given us the no objection certificates (NOC). We cannot apply for gas connections as we don’t have NOCs of the CDA. We don’t have water supply lines. There are a few water connections and we face great inconvenience in getting water because of the long queues. Even sewage gets mixed with water supplied through the pipelines. We are left with no choice but to get water from filtration plant,” Mr Gill said.

“We are hopeful that things will improve after the CJP’s visit,” he said.

A resident of France Colony in F-7/4, Daud Boota, told Dawn that the chief justice visited the colony and stayed there for almost five minutes. The residents tried to inform the chief justice about the issues during his stay, he added.

“The CJP said he believed in practical work rather than just hearing the issues. He said he was already aware of all the issues of the slum areas and assured the residents that they will be addressed within 90 days,” he said.

Mr Boota said there were 1,000 houses in the colony but only 300 had electricity meters due to which people relied on each other for power supply. Only 421 houses have gas meters, he said.

“We don’t get water at all, due to which people go to other sectors for the commodity,” he said.

Earlier, Chief Justice Saqib Nisar visited Polyclinic and observed the situation of the hospital which was packed with patients because of working day.

Polyclinic Media Coordinator Dr Sharif Astori told Dawn that the CJP had directed the management to establish a complaint cell and ensure that senior doctors reviewed the complaints once a week.

“The CJP said he was looking into the issue of the hospital’s extension. He directed us to ensure doctors prescribed medicines which were in the hospital’s medicine list,” Dr Sharif Astori said.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2018