ISLAMABAD: A delegation of local traders led by former President ICCI Muhammad Ejaz Abbasi visited Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry and apprised Muhammad Naveed Malik Acting President ICCI about the problems being faced by the citizens due to rising water crisis in the federal capital. Baser Daud former President ICCI, Raja Hassan Akhtar Secretary General Traders Welfare Association Blue Area, Khalid Chaudhry President Farooqia Market, Asher Hafeez, Shiraz Siddiqui, Saif ur Rehman and Saeed Bhatti were in the delegation. Nisar Mirza Vice President ICCI was also present at the occasion.
Addressing the delegation, Muhammad Naveed Malik, Acting President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry said that many sectors of the federal capital were facing acute water shortage and called upon the government to issue directions to concerned authorities for taking urgent measures to address this serious issue on priority basis.
He said that in the scorching heat, it was extremely difficult for people to live without water. He said daily hundreds of people were registering complaints for water supply, but concerned authorities were taking no solid measures to address this issue.
Muhammad Naveed Malik said that Simly Dam was the main source of water supply in Islamabad and daily 20 – 35 million water was being withdrawn from this dam to supply water in the federal capital. However, due to lack of rains, water quantity was decreasing daily in the dam. He said water level in Khanpur Dam was also going down but CDA and MCI have not developed any alternative strategy to ensure water supply to Islamabad.
He said the water supply network in Islamabad has become very old due to which many main water lines were leaking and thousands of gallon water was being wasted daily. He stressed that CDA and MCI should take urgent measures to upgrade water supply network in Islamabad to save water from wastage. He said that water was the basic requirement of the people and life was not possible without it. He said that CDA and MCI should ensure water supply through tankers in those areas that were facing water shortage to mitigate the problems of citizens in the summer season. He appealed to the government to issue strong directions to the concerned authorities for improving water supply system in the federal capital so that people could be provided relief on this account.
