Wasa warned to mend its ways, substandard work not to be tolerated

Rawalpindi : Finally, Commissioner Rawalpindi Division Liaquat Ali Chattha who was fascinated with the performance of the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) has warned the concerned department about the quality of work and made it clear that substandard work would not be tolerated at any cost.

Commissioner Rawalpindi Division here on Thursday visited the Asghar Mall area and reviewed the reconstruction work of Asghar Mall Road.

The commissioner directed the authorities concerned to ensure that the sewerage lines of the residential area on the sides of the road should be cleaned properly so that the water of the streets could not come on the road. The road carpeting should be done after 100 per cent completion of roadside sewerage lines, he instructed. Substandard work would not be tolerated under any circumstances, Liaquat Ali Chattha warned.

Asghar Mall Road is located in a densely populated area of the city and the citizens are facing problems due to construction work, he added. The road construction work should be completed soon so that the citizens could be facilitated, he said.

In his whole tenure, Commissioner Rawalpindi Division Liaquat Ali Chattha did not consider any news items published in different newspapers about corruption and the poor performance of Wasa. Now, as he was going to retire after a month he seems to have taken notice of malpractices in Wasa and wants to expose their poor performance.

Wasa has been digging new roads without the proper permission of the concerned authorities of the local administration, Rawalpindi. Metropolitan Corporation Rawalpindi (MCR) wrote a letter to Commissioner Rawalpindi Division and complained that Wasa without getting a Non-Objection Certificate (NOC) was digging out even new carpeted roads in the name of laying down sewerage lines and wasting billions of rupees of Punjab government. But, Commissioner Rawalpindi did not bother about any complaint against Wasa.

Over 70 percent of carpeted roads in Rawalpindi city have caved in due to underground leakage through low-quality water pipelines. Secondly, Wasa after laying down sewerage lines does not repair the roads properly as it uses low-quality materials, which damages the roads.

There is no proper sewerage system in Rawalpindi city. Only 40 percent of the area has sewerage lines, while the remaining 60 percent are without it. All of the city’s sewage is discharged into Nullah Leh, and even sewage from areas where sewerage lines are present is discharged into Nullah Leh without being treated.

The residents of Bagh Sardaran/Asghar Mall have strongly protested against Wasa they were laying down the sewerage lines. They said that sewerage lines were already laid down here in Bagh Sardaran, why Wasa was laying down sewerage lines once again. Wasa should handle the sewerage system properly which was blocked all around but officials were laying down lines again and again only to get ‘commission’, residents alleged. The residents also said that sewerage water was getting mixed with drinking water in several areas but Wasa officials were only showing performance in laying down sewerage lines.

‘The News’ in a survey found that the sewerage system of Rawalpindi city has been ruined because over 90 per cent of gutters remain overflowing all around even on main roads. Around 60 per cent of tubewells of Wasa have become outdated and have not been operational due to low-quality ‘Steiner’. Wasa was using low-quality ‘Steiner’ rather than using steel in tube wells. The cost of fine quality steel ‘Steiner’ is Rs500,000 but Wasa officials using low quality ‘Steiner’ at a cost of Rs100,000. It is worth mentioning here that the Punjab government releases funds to purchase fine-quality materials.