RAWALPINDI: The Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) has asked Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) and Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) to clear their dues otherwise their water supply would be disconnected next week.

Wasa spokesman Umer Farooq said a drive had been launched to recover the dues. He said the civic agency managed to recover Rs20 million from defaulters in the current fiscal year.

People who failed to pay their bills for the last few years can clear the dues in easy installments, he added.

He said the city was divided into five zones and special teams had been constituted to take action against defaulters. He said if the defaulters paid their dues voluntarily the civic agency would waive surcharges on the bills.

For domestic consumers, Wasa has not launched a disconnection campaign and gave the consumers time to pay the bills. The residents should cooperate with Wasa by clearing their dues as they are being supplied water at the nominal rate of Rs100 per month.

He said the RMC had taken connections for its 19 outlets, including public toilets, but failed to pay Rs5 million. A final notice has been issued to it to pay the bills.

The official said the PHA also failed to pay its dues amounting to Rs4 million and had been asked to clear the dues within a week otherwise its connections would be snapped.

He said teams had been directed to confiscate water sucking machines of those commercial buildings whose owners had installed it on the main water supply lines without any permission.

He said police had also been contacted to register cases against those involved in water theft.

Published in Dawn, November 27th, 2018