Sector G-14 residents decry lack of basic facilities

Residents continue to suffer lack of proper water supply

ISLAMABAD: The residents of Sector G-14 Monday claimed that there were no basic facilities in their area. They complained that they were not getting any water from civic agencies, did not have a public school and no parks, playgrounds and hospitals that make an area comfortable to live in.



"The authorities have simply failed to take any steps for years to ensure necessary amenities for the residents. The total absence of concern from the Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation (FGEHF), which launched the sector 13 years ago, has tested the patience of those living in the area." There has been no development work in the area for several years and the houses give a barren look with no trees along the roads and streets and home owners who have nothing but complaints against the civic agencies as they are having increasing difficulty managing without a proper water supply system.

Moreover, despite collecting all the municipal taxes from the area, CDA was still not providing any services to ease the residents.

The sewerage is bare minimum and driving on the roads in the sector is a bad experience for drivers as roads are broken and need immediate repair but the authorities have been sleeping on the matter for years now.  At night the sector is engulfed in darkness as hardly any street light works, making the area only marginally safe at night time.

Furthermore, residents have nowhere to dump their daily trash except at the corners of streets. So the area stinks as no one from the agencies comes to take away the garbage. Ashfaq Ahmed, who has been residing in the area for the last three years, said that due to the lack of sufficient water supply the residents have no option but to bore for underground water which hardly exists.  The helpless inhabitants are compelled to purchase water from private tankers on rates that are always rising and they dread the summer when the situation will get worse.



When contacted, an official of the FGEHF said that the foundation had conducted a survey about water shortage. He assured that the water tanker system will be streamlined and water tanker will be available to people for Rs350. The official said the foundation has auctioned some commercial plots in sector G-13 and G-14 and the funds generated from the exercise will be spent on the maintenance and rehabilitation of the sector. The Foundation has already prepared PC-I worth Rs470 million for maintenance and rehabilitation of the infrastructure in the sector and once the auction money comes in the FGEHF accounts, the development work would start in the area," he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 3^rd, 2018.