RAWALPINDI: With the mercury touching 40°C, water shortage has hit hard the cantonment areas of Rawalpindi and Chaklala.

The residents urged the government to solve the problem on a permanent basis.

They said catchment areas of Khanpur Dam had received good rains in the winter filling the reservoir almost to its capacity but water was supplied to Rawalpindi on alternate days even in Ramazan.

The most affected areas are Afshan Colony, Tench Bhatta, Dhoke Syedan, Dhoke Hafiz, Naseerabad, Kalma Chowk, Kamalabad etc.Raja Taifoor, a resident of Kamalabad, said the Chaklala Cantonment Board (CCB) failed to provide water to the residents but was sending bills regularly. He said the government should solve the issue on a permanent basis.

Mohammad Anwar, of Dhoke Hafiz, said in Ramazan they had to purchase water from private tankers.

He said water requirement increased in the summer but the civic body was still rationing the commodity.

He said tubewells installed in the area had failed to supply water.

He said the residents visited the RCB offices but to no avail.

“We are facing water shortage for the last one week while officials of the CCB claimed that there was no water in Khanpur Dam. However, water goes to waste due to old and rusty supply lines in Kalma Chowk,” said Naseer Ahmed, a resident of Kalma Chowk.

Raja Javed, a resident of Tench Bhatta, said they got water from private tankers which put an extra burden on their budget. He said after the administration declared private tankers as illegal, the latter raised the charges to Rs2,000.

However, RCB officials said the consumption of water increased with the start of the summer leading to its shortage.

When contacted, CCB Vice President Raja Irfan Imtiaz said water shortage in cantonment areas had increased due to lack of interest by the federal government to solve the problem.

He said CCB areas had been allocated four million gallons daily water but it was being supplied on alternate days.

He said the elected members were asking the authorities to find a permanent solution to the problem.

Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2019