Protest: Demands for basic amenities

Residents of Model Urban Shelter Project in Alipur Farash hold protest demonstration for gas and water provision.

ISLAMABAD: The poor supply of water and gas has the katchi abadi at their wits’ ends. Residents of the Model Urban Shelter Project in Alipur Farash held a protest demonstration against the non-provision of gas and water in the settlement on Thursday.

The protesters, comprising women and children, warned that they would block the main Lehtrar road indefinitely in the first week of the new year if immediate action is not taken to redress their plight, said a press release issued by the All-Pakistan Alliance for Katchi Abadis, organizers of the protest.
Local organizer of the Alliance, Rukhsana Qazi said that the immediate surrounding areas of Farash Town have enjoyed virtually uninterrupted gas supply while the poor resettled residents of the Federal Capital’s katchi abadis are being completely marginalized.

She said that women are the major victims of this discriminatory policy because they are charged with the domestic responsibility and they are completely helpless due to the authorities’ callousness.

She said that all that was required was for a gas loadshedding schedule to be announced so that arrangements could be made by individual households accordingly.
Other office-bearers of the Alliance lamented that even after being relocated to the “so-called” Model Project by CDA, the poor residents of Islamabad are still being treated as second-class citizens.

They said that the CDA has still not installed proper sewerage in Alipur Farash and the water supply is also pathetic. They said that they are willing to accept their fate if it the double standards on the relevant authorities’ part were not addressed to.

They said that they are left with no choice but to come out onto the streets. In this regard all responsibility will be vested to the relevant authorities.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 31^st, 2010.