‘Govt providing drinking water to 1.4m in the city’

MPA questions plans for the remaining 1.1 million people.

PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government told the provincial legislature on Monday that it was providing clean drinking water to 1,447,000 people in Peshawar.

The issue was raised by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz lawmaker Sobia Shahid during question hour. Minister for Public Health and Engineering Shah Farman told the house that his department completed 344 drinking water schemes across the provincial capital which cater to over 1.4 million people.

He said work was under way on at least 43 schemes in the ongoing year to benefit another 70,000 people.

Neither the written answer to the question nor the minister informed the house about how the rest of Peshawar’s population was fulfilling its water needs.

Shahid pointed out that only 1.4 million people out of a 2.5 million population had access to clean drinking water supplied by the government. She asked what plans were in the pipeline for the remaining 1.1 million.

However, the minister was unable to reply to this query. He said the local government department had set up the Water and Sanitation Service Peshawar (WSSP) to ensure clean drinking water for the city’s inhabitants.

However, Farman said the government had no plans to install water filtration plants at union councils as of yet. Sobia Shahid was not satisfied with this answer and staged a walkout from the house when the speaker did not allow her to raise her point for the fourth time.

Money for nothing

The house also referred several questions related to the Public Health and Engineering department to a special committee after members pointed out that employees were drawing salaries and not working on several tube wells in Swabi district.

The issue was raised by PML-N lawmaker Shiraz Khan. Speaker Asad Qaiser also agreed with Shiraz, saying there were 18 such individuals in his constituency. The speaker formed a five-member special committee to probe the matter and present its report to the K-P Assembly within a month.

Under fire

Shah Farman had a tough day in the house as he also had to form a two-member committee to investigate the misuse of maintenance and repair funds in southern districts. The committee comprised MPAs Noor Salim Malik and Munawar Khan.

Farman was again left red over a fact pertaining to the imposition of social security tax on small businesses. The issue was raised by ANP lawmaker Syed Jaffer Shah who was also backed by Special Assistant for Law Arif Yousaf.

However, Shah Farman took exception, saying this is the first time he has heard about the matter. He asked how both Shah and Yousaf could discuss the issue without consulting him as he was the concerned minister with the authority to resolve the matter.

Speaker Qaiser told Farman that he needed to keep a check on his department and deferred the issue till Tuesday.

Hospitals and fees

Yousaf also told the house that the government was likely to initiate health commission proceedings against two leading private hospitals of the provincial capital for their “money-oriented behaviour”.

Responding to an adjournment motion by Arbab Jehandad Khan, Arif admitted the conduct of Rehman Medical Institute and North West Hospital was improper.

The special assistant said the government issued notices to both hospitals about a month ago, but both failed to reply. He said that government would check their agreements.

Arbab Jehandad told the house both hospitals closed their emergency wards for victims of the recent Hayatbad imambargah attack. He said the medical facilities also kept dead bodies in their custody till medical fees were cleared. Moreover, Jehandad pointed out the administrations of these institutes did not admit patients before the advance payment of fee.

He alleged these hospitals had turned into money-minting franchises and the government should take action against them.

The matter was later referred to the concerned committee of the house. The session was later adjourned till Tuesday afternoon.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 7^th, 2015.