RAWALPINDI: The water shortage complaints in the cantonment areas have increased with the rise in mercury.

The residents of the cantonment areas including Allahabad, Chur Chowk, Afshan Colony, Tench Bhatta, Meharabad, Habib Colony, Dhoke Hafiz, Misrial Road and adjoining areas have been facing water shortage for the last one month.

Raja Mohsin, a resident of Al-Qadria Colony near Pirwadhai Mor, said all our complaints to RCB fell on the deaf ears.

He said the RCB should at least ensure water for the residents in Ramazan as they had to go to other colonies to fetch the water during fasting. He said that the RCB should solve the matter immediately.

Residents rely on private expensive water tankers

Zahid Mughal, a resident of Allahabad, said the residents of the area the civic body was releasing water after an interval of three days even in Ramazan. He said that mostly people bought water from private water tankers.

He said that despite several complaints lodged with the RCB, the water supply to the area had not been improved in summer and the problems would increase in coming days.

Amjad Javed said the RCB water tanker service was limited to the former government officers and politicians in Westridge ignoring the residents of the areas despite the fact that they paid taxes.

“Government officials and politicians are exempted from property tax and other taxes,” he said.

Hafiz Irfan, a resident of Tench Bhatta, said the RCB had failed to provide water to the residents in Ramazan and people had to shuttle between one locality to the other in search of water.

He said four years ago, the residents elected the members for cantonment board but the members failed to resolve the matter.

He said that neither PTI nor PML-N solved the water issue in the cantonment areas.

He said that in the absence of water on daily basis, the daily chores keep lying incomplete and women in the house had to face hardships. He said they had to hire private water tanker at Rs1,000, putting extra burden on their household budget.

Nasir Khan, a resident of Habib Colony, said the tubewell in the area had been lying out of order for the last three days but the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board failed to fix it.

When contacted, RCB spokesman Qaisar Mehmood said the demand of the water increased in the summer but the civic body was working to address the complaints.

He claimed that the water tankers were provided to water hit areas. He said the water supply had improved in the recent past.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2019