Govt told to supply water to special education complex

PHC tells govt officials to explain why no water was supplied to the centre since 2015

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has directed the provincial government to ensure that at least three tankers of water are supplied to the special education complex and its affiliated women crises centre every day.

As the case was taken up on Friday, a two-judge bench of the PHC, comprising Justice Muhammad Ibrahim and Justice Muhammad Ayub, directed the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) chief secretary, social welfare secretary, district nazim and the Peshawar Development Authority (PDA) director general to explain why the centre was facing a water shortage since 2015.



While hearing the writ petition filed by the students and teachers of the special education centre over the non-availability of water at the centres, the bench expressed anger over the apathy of the government towards the plight of specially-abled students due to the non-available of water at the education centre.

Notices were issued to the K-P chief secretary, social welfare secretary, district nazim and PDA chief to submit their response to the matter at the next hearing of the case.

Attaullah Khan, through senior lawyer Muhammad Khurshid, had filed a petition stating that for the past three years, hundreds of students and women at the crises centre were facing water shortage and had been forced to purchase a tanker of water from the PDA on a daily basis which was not enough to cater to their requirements.

Due to the apathy of government, the petitioner told the court, they tried to dig a well by collecting Rs300,000, however, the money was insufficient and the cost of the project had further increased since they could not find any groundwater even after digging to a depth of 300 feet while the PDA is also demanding massive sum as tax on the well.



Khurshid, who is the contesting the case pro bono, urged the court to direct the government to immediately start the water supply to the special education centre and direct all the respondents to personally appear before the court and explain why the special children and impoverished women have been left without the basic necessity of life since 2015.

“They have been deprived of their basic rights since 2015. The government officials have to be made accountable for it,” argued Khurshid.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 13^th, 2018.