PESHAWAR: The Peshawar district council on Wednesday demanded the immediate disbanding of the Water and Sanitation Services Peshawar by the provincial government insisting the civic agency has miserably failed to deliver the goods since its establishment two years ago.

Most of the ruling and opposition councillors also staged a brief walkout to protest the ‘poor’ performance of the WSSP, which was established in Sept 2014 at the cost of billion of rupees.

They alleged that the government had established the WSSP to accommodate own people to high-paid positions rather than provide water and sanitation services to the people.

Almost all council members complained against the WSSP declaring its existence a waste of resources. They shouted slogans against the WSSP top bosses outside the council hall and said the civic agency was ‘old wine in the new bottle.’

Members allege govt created WSSP to accommodate own people to high-paid positions

Leader of the opposition Syed Zahir said the WSSP had miserably failed to provide water and sanitation services to the people in the provincial capital.

“This house should bring a resolution for the disbanding of the WSSP,” he said.

PTI councillor Hashim Khattak came down heavily on the WSSP over its failure to provide drinking water to Hayatabad, a posh area of the provincial capital.

He asked if the residents of Hayatabad didn’t get water despite regular payment of bills, then what the conditions in other areas would be.

“Several tube-wells have long been out of order in Phase-6 of Hayatabad, so the people are getting drinking water through bowsers,” he said.

The councillor warned the residents of Hayatabad would agitate against the WSSP very soon.

Hasan Gharhi ward councillor Ibrahim Khan said he was seriously thinking about banning the entry of the WSSP employees to the area as their performance was not up to the mark.

He said he’d raised the issue several times in the previous meetings of the council, but to no avail.

The councillor said he would stop raising the issues related to the WSSP as protest if the city district government didn’t resolve the sanitation problems.

Taqdir Ali of the PTI said the government had established the WSSP to pay high salary to its blue-eyed people appointed to it and not to clean the city and provide drinking water to the people.

“No one knows who the WSSP is answerable to,” he said.

Sartaj Khan of the ANP criticised the government for slashing half of the development budget for districts.

“Local bodies will complete one year of their formation in few days but their elected members are still crying for funds and powers,” he said.

The councillor demanded that the government withdraw its decision to massively cut the development budget for districts.

He criticised the WSSP for inefficiency and poor sanitation services in the city.

Councillor Faridullah alleged that most of around 250 Pesco employees, who had been working at Rehman Baba subdivision for three decades, were corrupt. He demanded of the National Accountability Bureau, Ehtesab Commission and other anti-corruption agencies to check the assets of those Pesco officials before action.

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2016