10 illegal tubewells sealed in Tarnol

Islamabad : Acting against the water mafia in Islamabad, the district administration on Sunday sealed 10 tubewells, installed illegally in the precincts of Noon and Tarnol police stations.

Magistrate Saddar Zone Mir Yamin took action against the illegal installations, following Islamabad High Court’s orders to seal the tubewells after a massive decline in groundwater level in the areas.

Talking to this agency, Yamin said the owners of tubewells draw up water from these illegally-installed tubewells and then store it in tankers and sell it off to residents of twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

A team of district administration taking cognizance of the matter raided the sites and sealed the tubewells, he added.

To a query, he said the administration also plans to file a police complaint against the tubewell operators, after which FIRs will be filed.

Meanwhile, the residents have urged the civic authorities to take action against the private ''tanker mafia'' as they charge Rs1800 to Rs3000 for a tanker.

According to residents’ complaints from Chatha Bakhtawar, Chak Shehzad, Tarnol, and other rural areas, there were no water lines and residents are left at the mercy of private tanker services alone.

The residents who have no other option but to purchase private water tankers to meet their household needs demanded management to control the price of water tankers as soon as possible. A resident from Chatha Bakhtawar said the government should check on these private water tankers who are taking this water crisis for granted and making money from innocent citizens.

“We cannot afford the water from the private tanker mafia because it is too costly,” said Ramzan another resident of Tarlai.

Ahmed Khan, a resident of Chak Shehzad, who is perturbed over the growing shortage of water, said, the underground water level going low due to heavy pumping at various locations.

This was the first winter season we faced an acute shortage of water due to massive water drawing by the tanker mafia, but authorities concerned were doing nothing for us, he regretted.

A housewife in the area also demanded of the authorities concerned take serious action against the water mafia to provide relief to masses.