SWAT: Scores of residents of Shahdara Watkey area in Mingora on Saturday staged a protest demonstration against the Water and Sanitation Service Company (WSSC) for cutting off their water supply connections.

Led by former naib nazim Azmat Ali Khan, they marched from Mingora and gathered in front of WSSC office in Saidu Sharif where they chanted slogans against the company while holding their paid bills.

They said that they had been paying their bills for water supply regularly, but despite that their connections were cut off by the company’s workers.

“Cutting off water supply connection from an entire area without prior notices is injustice and illegal. WSSC must follow the rules and regulations and it should have sent notices to every customer before cutting off their connections,” said Azmat Ali Khan.

The protesters said that they had been facing acute shortage of water after the company’s action and they had to arrange water from different areas.

“We having been paying three-month advance bills for water supply. In this scorching heat, now we have to go to far-flung areas to fetch water,” said Fazal Qayyum, a resident of the area.

Akbar Ali, another resident, said the WSSC operators had cut off their connections illegally. “They not only cut off our connections, but also put long wooden sticks in the pipes. The sticks have blocked our streets and many commuters have stumbled over them,” he said.

The protesters demanded of WSSC to immediately restore water supply besides ordering transfer of the two operators. They said that if their demands were not accepted they would continue their protest.

When contacted, a WSSC official said that majority of the water supply connections in the area were illegal. “Our workers will restore the connections from the supply line in a legal way,” he said.

Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2020