RAWALPINDI: Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) will complete laying of the new water supply line at Azizabad next week.

The Rs2.8 million project will help overcome water shortage in the area.

RCB spokesman Qaisar Mehmood told Dawn that Cantonment Executive Officer Sibtain Raza had taken serious notice of water shortage in Azizabad, and ordered laying of a new water supply line. Work on the line started last month.

He said additional 200,000 gallons of water per day would be provided to the residents through the new supply line, adding that they were already getting 60,000 gallons of water daily through the Khanpur Dam water supply line.

He said the new overhead water tank was connected to the Khanpur Dam water supply line and a new tubewell had also been installed in the area. He said water would be supplied to the residents without any hurdle in the coming days.

He said Additional Cantonment Executive Officer Faisal Munir Wattoo visited the site and inspected the construction work. He was informed that the supply would begin next week.

Mr Mehmood said RCB had been receiving complaints for the last many months and the matter was taken up in the board meeting, adding that after approval, work started in the area.

Meanwhile, the RCB also made a contingency plan to deal with any flood situation in the cantonment areas and appointed officials round the clock to monitor the situation in case of rain in the coming days.

A senior RCB official told Dawn that the new measures were taken after water accumulated in the low-lying areas of the cantonment areas following rains last week especially around the main nullahs.

He said RCB Cantonment Executive Officer Sibtain Raza appointed Additional Cantonment Executive Officer Faisal Munir Wattoo as controller and constituted eight units including forecasting, de-watering, rescue, sanitation, road clearance, medical and survey unit.

He said the basic aim of the measures was to avoid flood situation in the coming days. He said the sanitation branch had been asked to complete the cleanliness of the nullahs as soon as possible for the smooth flow of rainwater.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2019