People denied water from govt tube wells

K-P CM takes notice; seeks details of tube wells installed on private premises

PESHAWAR:

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has sought complete data of tube wells sunk by the provincial government for clean drinking water supply, and details of all the non-functional tube wells across the province.

He has also directed authorities to take necessary steps to prevent misuse of tube wells constructed on private premises, and to take strict action against those involved in the misuse of such tube wells.

Taking notice of complaints regarding non-supply of drinking water to the masses from government tube wells constructed on private premises at some places, the chief minister sought details of all such tube wells and water tanks, saying that such tube wells have been constructed to provide people with clean drinking water, and not to benefit any individual.

He was chairing a meeting of Public Health Engineering Department held here on Thursday.

Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Amjad Ali Khan, Secretary PHE Muhammad Idrees Khan, Director Performance Management and Reforms Unit, representatives of local government department and other relevant officials attended the meeting.

The meeting reviewed matters and issues related to the supply of clean drinking water to the public across the province and necessary directives were issued to the concerned quarters for prompt redressal of the public complaints to this effect.

The chair ordered devising an action plan to make all the non-functional tube wells functional as well as to retrieve the occupied government tube wells, adding that realistic time lines should also be fixed for the implementation of that action plan.

“The government has spent significant public resources on the establishment of tube wells with the sole aim to ensure supply of clean drinking water to the people”, he said and ordered formation of committees at district level to resolve such issues at local level.

He further directed the high-ups of PHE Department to come up with a scheme for the tube wells which do not have distribution network for the supply of water to the people. He issued directives that no project for the establishment of tube wells without distribution network would be approved in the future.

Moreover, Mahmood Khan directed accelerated pace of work on GIS mapping to ensure effective management of all the infrastructure of PHE Department across the province.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 22^nd, 2022.