NAROWAL: Over 20,000 residents in Narowal have been left without access to clean drinking water as four filtration plants and one water supply tank have been out of order for three years, despite repeated requests to the district administration for maintenance.

The Punjab government had installed five water filtration plants and one water tank to provide clean drinking water to citizens in Rajputan, Narowal’s suburbs. However, four plants and one tank have been closed due to damage, and unknown thieves have removed water stop pins from the filtration plants.

In 1990, the water tank was installed and water supply pipelines were also laid by the Public Health Engineering Department. In 2004, water filtration plants were installed when the water supply system was damaged.

In Chandrake Rajputan Town, water filtration plants were also installed under the Rural Water Supply Scheme to provide clean drinking water to the citizens.

Local residents said the current ruling personalities lost vote bank because of their indifference towards the water issue.

Deputy Commissioner Syed Hasan Raza said that he has sought a report on damaged water filtration plants and a decision would be taken to restore the water filtration plants after receiving the report.

Citizens demanded that Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz take immediate notice of the situation. They say clean drinking water is our basic right. They have demanded immediate restoration of water filtration plants.

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2024