FAISALABAD, Aug 6: City Tehsil Nazim Mumtaz Ali Cheema said on Friday water supply and drainage issue was a major problem of the city, stressing that there was a need to overhaul the system with the financial assistance of foreign agencies.

Talking to newsmen at his chamber on his return from Japan where he addressed the Kube Conference of heads of different cities in the world, he said he had informed the donor agencies and heads of nations that the citizens of Faisalabad had been facing shortage of sweet water and there were not proper sewerage lines despite the government's efforts.

The provincial government and the local councils were not in a position to spend billions of rupees on mega water projects, he told the officials as having informed to the conference participants, urging the donor agencies to allocate funds for provision of basic facilities to the city.

The conference was also informed about major problems the city had been facing like shortage of machines for cleanliness. He said half of the city's population had no facility of potable water.

Mr Cheema claimed that he had also highlighted the issues of public transport, shifting of oil depots from the city, street lights, and parking and encroachments.

PMA: The Pakistan Medical Association has vowed to launch a protest campaign in the district if the local government fails to withdraw its decision to hand over the basic health units to NGOs.

Talking to newsmen here on Friday, PMA's District President Dr Altaf Husain Rathore and secretary-general Dr Akmal Husain said the district government had planned to hand over the 168 BHUs to a network of NGOs known as "Rural Health Support Programme." They said it was a 'conspiracy' against doctors.

They claimed that highly qualified doctors working in the public sector would be bound to work under the orders of representatives of NGOs, which was a condemnable act on the part of the district government. The PMA higher-ups claimed that a similar plan had been implemented in Rahim Yar Khan in the past, but it failed.