LAHORE, June 7: The provincial housing and urban development minister blames Wapda, use of donkey-pumps by consumers and rustic water supply lines for the deaths caused by the consumption of contaminated water in Faisalabad a couple of weeks ago.
“Around 16-hour power shutdown dried up water supply lines in Ghulam Muhammadabad (Faisalabad) and donkey-pumps installed by the residents of the locality sucked through the rustic and ruptured pipes subsoil water contaminated by various industrial units in the town,” Syed Raza Ali Gillani told a press conference here on Wednesday.
A policy decision, he said, had been taken for replacing the 50-year-old GI pipes which had a life span of less than seven years and purchasing standby generators for operation of tubewells during power shutdowns.
He pointed out that Misri Shah, Ghoray Shah, Chah Miran, areas along the Ravi Road, Shahdara and Mustafabad were threatened by epidemics because of contaminated water supply. At least 3,000 feet supply lines in Misri Shah, Ghoray Shah and Chah Miran where the situation was critical had been replaced while a sum of Rs1.5 billion was being earmarked in the next year’s budget to start the project on the Ravi Road and Shahdara area.
The officials of all the five Wasa’s in Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Gujranwala and Rawalpindi had been directed to replace the old GI pipes with plastic ones which have unlimited life span, he added.
A sum of Rs940 million had been allocated while Rs240 million immediately released for replacing pipes and purchasing generators for Gulam Muhammadabad, he said.
JICA, a Japanese aid agency, had granted Rs2.5 billion for the water supply project in Faisalabad. Of the amount, Rs500 million had been consumed and development plans for the rest of the grant were being finalised, he said.
The minister said three casualties in Faisalabad were confirmed as gastroenteritis cases while no clinical details were available about the six other deaths. He said none of the five cities were fully covered by Wasa. Fifty per cent of Faisalabad population, 70 per cent of Gujranwala, 40 per cent of Multan, 25 per cent of Rawalpindi and 40 per cent of Lahore population was devoid of Wasa cover.
Billions of rupees were needed for replacing old pipes and fully covering all the five major cities, he said. The minister said the people should also replace their old domestic supply lines to get water free from bacteria. He also appealed to the masses to boil water before consumption.
Answering a question, Mr Gillani said meters were being installed on 15,000 to 20,000 water connections each year in Lahore for generating Wasa revenue and, thus, curtailing water supply tariff.
He also directed Wasa authorities to set up a round-the-clock consumer helpline like the SNGPL and Wapda’s.
Answering a question, he said there was no policy for converting Wasa offices into residences. He, however, ordered inquiry into such cases reported in Lahore.
He told reporters that the federal government had initiated a five-year project for installation of filtration plants in union councils.