QUETTA: The Balochistan High Court (BHC) has declared that the provincial government is not ready to solve the issue of shortage of drinking water in Quetta although the situation is becoming very serious now.

This was stated by a two-member bench of the BHC comprising Chief Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail and Justice Muhammad Kamran Khan Mullahkhail on Saturday while hearing a petition on shortage of drinking water in the provincial capital.

The chief justice said the situation, as described by managing director of the province’s Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa), was “horrible and very serious”. The ground­water level had dropped to 1,200 feet in Quetta and even after digging to that level one sometimes failed to strike water.

CJ Mandokhail terms the situation horrible and very serious

The bench directed the deputy commissioner of Quetta, chief engineer of public health engineering (PHE) department, chief engineer of irrigation department and MD of Wasa to hold a meeting in this regard and submit a report on the policy and mechanism needed for recharging groundwater and making alternative arrangements for supplying clean drinking water to the people of Quetta.

The committee thus formed could also give its opinion on any amendments needed in the rules and regulations of the Wasa Act. The BHC also instructed the irrigation secretary and PHE secretary to extend their full support to the committee.

Earlier, during the hearing of the case filed by Advocate Kashif Iqbal against the PHE secretary and others, the Wasa MD told the court that most of the tube wells were installed in Quetta without any feasibility study on the behest and order of some members of the Provincial Assembly but no detailed survey was conducted to determine the exact locations of these tube wells.

He said that if a proper policy was formulated to remove some tube wells in Quetta city and appropriate steps were taken to recharge the existing tube wells, then to some extent the problem of drinking water could be addressed. Otherwise, there could be a famine-like situation, he added. Many tube wells, including the one under discussion, had dried up, which showed the gravity of the situation. He further told the bench that the government had installed a sewage treatment plant in 2010 under the supervision of Wasa. The plant remained functional for some time, but due to non-availability of funds it was now closed. Rs100 million was required to make it operational again.

“MD (of Wasa) can purify dirty water and make it available for sectors like industry, agriculture and construction,” he told the court.

The two-member bench then directed all the members of the committee to appear before the court in person at the next hearing and submit their progress report with all the details required.

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2021