QUETTA: The Balochistan government has declared ‘water emergency’ in Quetta with immediate effect as the crisis is worsening day-by-day.

The decision was taken in a meeting presided over by Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani. After a detailed discussion and a briefing by officials concerned, the chief minister announced that all possible steps would be taken to solve the problem.

Mr Alyani directed the Public Health and Engineering Department (PHE) and the Water and Sanitation Authority (Wasa) to address the issue on an urgent basis. While acknowledging the gravity of the situation and the hardship people were facing, the chief minister promised resolving the issue at the earliest.

He focused on the necessity of bringing into use the resources of concerned departments for mitigating the people’s woes.

Those present in the meeting included Minister of PHE Noor Muhammad Dumar, Minister for Information Zahoor Ahmed Buledi, Balochistan Chief Secretary Dr Akhtar Nazeer and representatives of relevant departments.

Managing Director of Wasa Wali Muhammad Bareech told the meeting that the 2.3 million consumers of Quetta were getting 34.8 million gallons of water daily against the requirement of around 61 million gallons.

Regarding tubewells, he said that 406 of Wasa and 160 of PHE would be installed in Quetta, and those already installed — 10 tubewells in Dasht and 30 under Sariab Package — would be linked to the system once the funds were made available.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2018