RCB fails to regularise illegal water hydrants
A private water tanker supplies water to residents as acute water shortage is being witnessed. PHOTO: JALAL QURESHI/EXPRESS
Apart from failing to provide sufficient water supplies to residents, the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) has also failed to regularise 50 water hydrants in its jurisdiction.
This failure has given room to people operating private water tanker businesses to supply water to the residents at an exorbitant rate. The residents are compelled to fork out heavy sums for procuring water tankers to fulfil their needs. To cope with dwindling water supplies, the residents have turned to private boring which is also an expensive process.
The RCB was expected to receive a licencing fee and monthly charges in exchange for the regularisation of illegal hydrants, and people were expected to purchase water tankers at the cantonment board’s set prices.
The RCB had also issued a schedule to regularise the illegal hydrants by asking them to obtain a regular licence from the board, paying a monthly fee and selling water tankers to the public at rates set by the board.
These 50 illegal water hydrates are connected with heavy boring in Dhok Syedan, Masriyal, Dhok Gujran and other locations.
Under the regularisation plan, each water hydrate was supposed to pay a one-time licence charge of Rs0.175 million. The owner who sells 200 water tankers daily was required to pay Rs100,000 to the board each month, while the owner who sells 150 water tankers was required to pay Rs75,000 to the board each month.
Similarly, water hydrates selling less than 150 water tankers were required to pay the board Rs50,000 monthly.
According to this formula, a monthly price of Rs15,000 was determined for water tankers with a 1,500-gallon capacity, Rs10,000 for tanks with 1,000 gallons or more and 5,000 for tanks with less than 1,000 gallons.
Under the plan, a tanker with a capacity of 1500 gallons of water was to be sold to the citizens only for Rs800, a water tanker with a capacity of 1,000 gallons for Rs600 and a water tanker with a capacity of fewer than 1,000 gallons for Rs400.
Currently, illegal water tankers are selling water at Rs3,000, Rs3,500 and Rs4,500.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 20th, 2022.