PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has planned to approach the Punjab government to seek payment for the decades-long supply of spring water from Galiyat region to Murree hill station, officials say.

They told Dawn that the tourism department had requested the chief minister’s office through a summary to take up the matter with the relevant Punjab authorities.

An official of the Galiyat Development Authority claimed that the matter would be raised at the level of the inter-provincial coordination ministry and if the option didn’t work, then the province would take it to the Council of Common Interest for resolution.

He said the province would seek payment for the supply of water from Galiyat to Murree since 1973.

An official document read, “Legally, there was no instrument or authority that allows the transport and usage of water sprouting forth from the springs in Donga Gali, KP to Murree, Punjab.”

According to it, in 1891-94, the secretary of state had provided a piped water supply scheme for Murree cantonment and neighbouring camps from Galiyat areas at ‘his own cost and expenses’. In 1896, the Municipality of Murree became a joint shareholder in the said water works.

Dept requests CM office to take up matter with Punjab authorities

The official said there was no rationale for the supply of water from Galiyat region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to Murree miles away and that, too, free of charge, especially when the residents (of Galiyat) suffered from acute water shortage.

He said water from different Galiyat springs was collected in two big tanks in Donga Gali area before being supplied to Murree.

The official said the matter was also raised in 2006 but it was not pursued properly at that time.

The official documents reveal that the Galiyat spring water used to be supplied to the Murree Cantonment as well but the Pakistan Army had already stopped its use.

According to them, the Joint Water Board and Rawalpindi and Hazara Hill Track Improvement Trust, which oversaw Murree and Galiyatareas, ceased to exist after the enactment of the 1973 Constitution. The Galiyat Development Authority was formed in 1996.

A document said all relevant constructions after 1973 were illegal and an encroachment on the land and water of KP.

“So far, the water utilised by the Punjab government after 1973 shall be calculated and be paid by it as it is the resource of KP, which has been utilised without any agreements (both legal and financial).”

The documents showed that the total daily demand of Galiyat region was 282,000 gallons per day, including 110,000 gallons in Khaira Gali, 124,000 gallons in Ayubia Khanaspur and 48,000 gallons in Donga Gali.

They added that springs in Mushkpuri hills were tapped to supply water to the three surface reservoirs having the capacity to store around nine million gallons in Donga Gali.

“Only a very little quantity of water is occasionally supplied to GDA areas, including Khanaspur, Ayubia, Khairaali through connections of ½ diameter pipes that can hardly fill the storage tank of 10, 000 gallons in three days, which is usually discontinued in the peak season,” read a document.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2020