AS the federal budget was announced, the CDA silently dropped a bombshell of 200 per cent increase in water tanker service charges on the poor consumers. However, the precious commodity remains out of the reach of the common man.

Earlier, the CDA used to provide 1/3 tanker at the nominal charges of Rs35 but after the announcement of the federal bud get the rate has been increased to Rs100 for the same quantity.

However, the staff is not willing to provide even 1/3 of the water in the tanker and, according to a tanker driver, they are asked to accommodate four or more complaints from a single tanker unofficially.

The staff on tanker duty prefers private requests for the supply. Such requests were entertained at Rs800 to Rs1,000 per 1/3 tanker till May 31, but after increase in the charges, up to Rs2,000 is being demanded now. According to the staff, they are to share this money with the highups in the CDA.

Water has become a rare commodity particularly for the residents of G-11/1 sector as they have not been receiving the supply for the last more than one month and they also could not even get it through the CDA’s water tanker service despite standing in queues almost throughout the night.

The complaint office meant for G-11 sector starts registering complaints from 5am for which the consumers, including women, are required to line up outside the complaint office at midnight. There are several consumers who have been trying to get water for several days but without success.

Above 500 complaints are registered at each complaint centre on a daily basis and water is supplied to 80 to 100 complainants only while all other complaints go ignored and the people are left with no choice but to once again line up the next midnight or grease the palms of the tanker staff. The CDA appears to have been more focused on projects such as installation of new traffic signals with claims to make Islamabad roads signal-free, replacement of existing street lights with sodium lights, than to provide the basic necessity of water to the residents of Islamabad.

FATIMA DARAKHSHAN Islamabad