The Lahore High Court on Thursday directed the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) to submit in court a report on tests by the Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research laboratory on samples of drinking water taken from various parts of the city.
The court observed that a number of citizens were dying from hepatitis while Wasa and government officials were resting in their homes.
Earlier, Advocate Imtiaz Rasheed Qureshi told the court that he wanted to withdraw his petition as the Wasa had fixed the problem of contaminated water supply to his home.
The judge expressed dismay over the lawyer’s statement saying he deserved to be penalised for wasting the court’s time if he had reached an out-of-court settlement with the Wasa. He then rejected the petitioner’s request to withdraw, observing that it was a sensitive issue of public interest. He said the court would see it to the end.
The judge said the fact that every other citizen was being advised liver function tests was a matter of shame for the relevant public officials.
The court directed the Wasa to submit the report of PCSIR laboratory tests a samples of drinking water and adjourned hearing till January 13.
Advocate Qureshi’s petition had said that the Wasa charged consumers for sewerage and sanitation but did not clean sewers or supply clean drinking water.
He said that he paid the bill regularly but the water supplied to the area he lived in was unfit for drinking. Citizens had to purchase filtered water because drinking the water supplied by the Wasa could cause liver diseases, he said. Qureshi requested the court to issue directions to the Wasa to ensure better services and supply of clean water to citizens.
The same court, in a similar case on Thursday, said millions of rupees had been wasted on the rehabilitation of the sanitation system.
The petitioner’s counsel told the court that the Public Health Engineering Department had not completed its projects within the specified time and several cities had turned into stinking pools. He said millions of rupees had been spent on rehabilitating the sanitation system to no end.
Replying to a query, an official of the department said all projects had been completed in time and handed over to the district and town administrations. It was their duty to look after the projects, the official said.
At this, the judge observed that it was a public interest case and the court could not overlook it. The officials responsible for it would be sent to prison, the judge said. The court summoned the department secretary on January 6.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 20th, 2013.