Supreme Court of Pakistan. PHOTO: AFP
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday constituted a two-member commission to probe non-availability of clean drinking water in Bolan district.
A three-member bench, led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar, conducted the hearing in the suo motu case and sought a report from the commission in two weeks.
The court appointed Supreme Court Bar Association President Amanullah Kanrani as the head of the commission. Engr Osman Babai is the other member. Further, irrigation and other departments would provide full support to the commission, the court ruled.
SC summons officials over lack of drinking water in Bolan district
The bench also directed the authorities concerned to install water purification plant within a month in Bhagnari Bolan.
The apex court had taken suo motu after a video on social media showed that residents of Bolan’s Bhagnari area did not have access to clean potable water.
He remarked that the Balochistan government should see the video of a runway on which donkeys and people are drawing water from the same place. The matter is serious, people have been drinking poison instead of water, he added.
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The video of a dirty water pool in Bolan’s Bhagnari area was played in SC’s Courtroom No 1.
Addressing the Additional Advocate General Balochistan, the CJP remarked that the provincial government should see what kind of water is available to people.
Who are your masters? Why did not the chief secretary come? If Balochistan chief minister had visited there then he could see the actual condition of the province, he said.
Moreover, Member National Assembly Shah Zain Bugti thanked the chief justice for taking notice of the matter.
Meanwhile addressing Bolan deputy commissioner, the CJP said that you have been supplying poisonous water to people.
He stressed that the government put 1,200 million rupees in non-developmental activities. They should have installed one water purification plant in the area.
Justice Nisar said that drinking water was not just the problem of people living there but the entire Balochistan. The chief minister and cabinet can be summoned in the case if the need arose, he added.
The chief justice ordered the formation of an authority in Thar after MNA Ramesh Kumar – a provincial minister from Sindh – informed the SC regarding lack of action by authorities in the drought-stricken region.
[WITH INPUT FROM APP]
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