RAWALPINDI, Aug 28: The Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa)'s inability to remove its pipelines from the site of the under-construction Committee Chowk underpass is hindering work on the project.

Officials told Dawn on Saturday that the Punjab Highways Department had criticized the Wasa officials for their failure in completely removing the pipelines from the site despite getting compensation from the government.

The agency has removed some of the pipelines from the site but still a good number of them, about which the agency had no information, pass through the area.

When contacted, Executive Engineer Punjab Highways Department Mr Riaz said Wasa lacked maps of its installations which passed through the site, due to which many pipelines blasted at various points. The labourers had to stop work till the agency shifted the pipelines and pumped out the water, often taking hours.

In response to a question, he said they were trying to ensure the completion of the project within the 90-day deadline for which the coordination of the water agency was vital.

Meanwhile, the damage to various pipelines has also caused disruption of water supply to hundreds of households in the nearby areas. The agency has failed to ensure water supply to the affected consumers through alternative means. People said they had lodged complaints with the Wasa office concerned but no step had so far been taken to solve the problem. Since the initiation of work on the project, the residents of various nearby localities have not been getting water while tankers of Wasa seldom visit these localities.

Meanwhile, an official of Wasa said the civic body lacked maps of its installations due to which they could not redress the issue. He said during the 2001 flood in Nullah Leh most of Wasa's maps had been washed away or damaged after water entered the basement of Wasa's old building which housed the records.

He said Wasa's top brass were resorting to delaying tactics in reacquiring the maps lost in the flood from a Lahore-based firm which had prepared them. The firm, he said, possessed original copies of the maps.

He said the Asian Development Bank had also asked the water agency to ensure the availability of all its maps or convert them into digital form.

The official said lack of record of all Wasa maps could create similar problems for other developmental projects including the construction of more underpasses on Murree Road.