Canal cleaning suspends water supply to RCB areas

Official says advance suspension notice was provided, supply to be restored from Feb 15

RAWALPINDI: Even though the water levels in the dams feeding the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad have risen after the recent spell of heavy rains, cantonment areas of the garrison city are facing a shortage of water because the supply canals have been closed for cleaning.

As a result, residents have been forced to purchase water from private water tanker services at exorbitant prices.

As the recent spell of rain began, the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) started its annual canal cleanliness campaign to clear the supply canals from Khanpur Dam of mud, silt and other obstacles. The campaign started on February 2 and is expected to continue until February 14.

However, owing to poor strategy and mismanagement by the RCB, residents have been forced to fork out between Rs3,000 to Rs5,000 to buy water from members of the tanker mafia.

Residents of the cantonment areas including Dhoke Chaudhry, Mughalabad, Dhoke Syedan, Harley Street, Shahilay Valley, Chungi 22 and Tangi Market are facing a shortage of water. They said that the supply of water to their homes stopped from February 2.

When they contacted the cantonment administration, they were told that the cleanliness campaign will continue till February 14 and water supply will be restored from the next day.

Citizens said that the tanker mafia was using the opportunity to fleece people by charging exorbitant rates for tankers.

“Since the mafia is aware that the public desperately needs water, they are selling water at high rates, while no action has been taken against the tanker mafia,” they complained.

An RCB official said that they had informed citizens last month about the suspension of water supply from February 2 to February 14 for the cleanliness campaign, adding that residents had been advised to use water scarcely and to store as much water as possible.

He added that it was critical to clean the canals of the earth deposited on the stream beds so that water can be supplied smoothly and continuously during the summer.

Dangerous buildings

After the recent spell of heavy rains, the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC), the RCB and the district council have issued red notices to some 296 structurally weak buildings. The engineering department of these bodies has termed these buildings as dangerous for human lives.

Most of the weak buildings are around a century and half old and are located in the older parts of Rawalpindi including Bohar Bazaar, Mababhra Bazaar, Shah Chan Chiragh, Kartarpur, Amarpura, Pul Shah Nazir, Akal Garh, Usmanpura, Mohanpura, Zafarul Haq Road, Ghazni Road, Moti Bazaar, Trunk Bazaar, Chittiyan Hattiyan, Landa Market, Forest Road, Gawalmandi, Ganjmandi, Tench Bhatta, Peoples Colony, Aadra, Lal Koti.

All these buildings have multiple floors and house between four to seven families and their roof leaks during rains.

Verifying the news, Rawalpindi Mayor Sardar Naseem Khan said that human lives are quite precious.

He added that the heavy rains during the winter season has created cracks in weak buildings or have caused old cracks to expand, making the structures precarious to live in. 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 9^th, 2019.