RAWALPINDI: Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) Rawalpindi chapter on Saturday staged a protest demonstration outside Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) offices against the recent surge in water tariff and gave the Punjab caretaker government 10 days to withdraw the hike otherwise a sit-in would be staged outside the main offices of the agency.

The caretaker government last month increased the water tariffs for all Wasa consumers in Rawalpindi, Lahore, Gujranwala, Faisalabad and Multan.

However, people rejected the increase in the water rates and demanded the provincial government to withdraw it as the consumers were already suffering from price hikes.

On Saturday, the JI brought out a rally and staged a sit-in outside Wasa offices. JI workers and supporters were led by district emir Syed Arif Shirazi, Syed Arshad Farooq, Raza Ahmed Shah and Imran Shafique Advocate.

Restaurant Owners Association’s Haji Farooq and Haji Mumtaz also participated in the protest demonstration with restaurant workers and other owners.

The participants, carrying placards inscribed with their demands, chanted slogans in favour of their demands and against the caretaker provincial government and Wasa officials. The protest continued for two hours.

Speaking on the occasion, the JI leaders said that Wasa sent wrong bills to the domestic consumers as owners of five marla houses got the bills according to the tariff set for the seven marla houses and seven marla house owners got bills according to the tariff of 10 marla houses.

They demanded to withdraw the recent hike in water charges and made corrections in the last month’s bills.

They said the JI would launch massive protests in every nook and corner of the garrison city if the caretaker government did not withdraw the surge.

They said that the caretaker government had no authority to increase the tariff or take any policy decision as its mandate was only to help election commission to conduct fair and free elections.

Later, the JI leaders met Wasa Managing Director Mohammad Tanveer. After the meeting, the Wasa managing director announced in front of the protesters to correct the water bills, if there was any discrepancy.

He said that Wasa teams would check the houses and correct the bills and adjust the previous bills in next month’s bills.

He said that the recent increase in the tariff was not only for Rawalpindi but also for all major cities as the electricity and fuel charges had increased manifold.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2023

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