RAWALPINDI, Nov 29: The district government has directed the Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA) to expedite the process of awarding contract for installation of 30 filtration plants in different parts of the city.

The previous contract was cancelled and the contractor black-listed for providing inferior quality plants to the TMA. “The ultra-violet tube of the plants was not of the recommended standard,” a senior official of the district administration said.

District Nazim Raja Tariq Kiani, talking to this reporter, said: “I have told the TMA to award the contract at the earliest on contractor’s risk and cost basis.”

These filtration plants will be installed mostly in the poorer and densely populated localities, where the people do not have access to clean drinking water. The plants are expected to be installed in a nine-month period.

The district government officials said structures for installing 18 plants had already been erected and roof-tops of six completed. The rest are still to be constructed.

Drinking water contamination is a serious problem in the city. According to an analysis conducted by the health department, the drinking water in the city was contaminated with drug-resistant bacteria.

The diseases being caused by the supply of unsafe water include typhoid, cholera, enterric fever, diarrhoea and other water-borne diseases. District Health Officer Dr Shoaib Khan confirmed an increase in incidence of water-borne diseases, particularly diarrhoea.

Other studies on the underground water quality of the city conducted some time ago, including one by National University of Science and Technology, had indicated presence of microbial contents, nitrates, chlorides and sulphates in drinking water. The studies had declared the water unfit for human consumption.

The city’s underground water contamination had been attributed to the Nullah Leh.