NAB urged to probe water supply project scam

CHITRL, July 22: People of Chitral town are facing  power loadshedding and water scarcity in the scorching heat and the holy month of Ramazan. Although loadshedding is a national issue which could not be addressed on a short-term basis, shortage of water in Chitral has created an emergency like situation which is intriguing. People had expected that they would soon get rid of the water shortage after the completion of the Golen Gol water supply scheme. Gonlen Gol water supply scheme was the last ray of hope for the people in the Chitral town and all of them were having highest possible expectation from this project completed at a cost of about Rs. 32 crore. From the very outset, the respective contractor in collaboration with the officials of the Public Health Engineering Department started work on the project with faulty planning and the pipes used in the project looked extremely of low quality. This had been realized even by lay men visiting the site. On one hand hand work on the project was going on with a faulty planning and faulty materials and on the other the  the  Public Health Engineering Department was in the state of hibernation and not taking notice of the faulty works from the beginning due to unknown reasons. After the lapse of two years the so-called work on the project was completed at the back of huge anomalies in the pipelines system as well as faulty distribution lines and many other engineering faults which is visible from the surface to us but in engineering point of view this project is 80% defective from all respect. Within no time of the inauguration of the project, the defective pipes blasted in two different points and now the water is flowing at Nardet Gol while the leaderless and hard-hit people of town Chitral are thirsty and looking for a drop of water in this holy month of Ramazan. It goes to the credit of SRSP Chitral which facilitated community members of Chitral from donor funds by digging the well in different villages of the town otherwise the people would have been left with no option to get even scanty drinking water except from the muddy Chitral River. Irony of the matter is that tax income for the people is embezzled by the team of Public Health Department and contractor and people are getting some benefits from donor funds. If RSPs and donor funds were not available people of the area would survive in Stone Age even now. At last, on July 7, 2014, MPA Saleem Khan inaugurated the project without taking notice of the anomalies involved,  and it reflects that we are electing incompetent people to represent us at the provincial level. Everyone in Chitral has 100 percent information about the project and its defectiveness but it surprise us too much that the MPA of the constituency instead of bringing to book the respective contractor and the department inaugurated the project in which huge amount from the national exchequer has been siphoned off with no benefit to the public. There are rumors in the area that MPA facilitated the respective department officials and contractor to embezzle public money by premature inauguration of the project and he might also have some vested interest for which he inaugurated the project inadvertently. If this is the level of our leadership how corruption could be controlled at the national level and how transparency ensured in the country and how tax income of the people is used for tax payer own benefits? We do not request provincial Chief Minister Mr. Pervez Khatak and Imran Khan to take notice of the issue because they are busy in the process of toppling the federal government through long marches instead of resolving serious issues of the people in province. In the past, we brought the issue of bypass road and Mulan Gol Bridge into the notice of the chief minister but no action was taken, which showed that the provincial government has no interest in resolving problems of the people especially in context of district Chitral. In the past, the deputy commissioner also took notice of such issues for public interest but  unfortunately now that tradition has also been forgotten.  People of Chitral ask one question from the deputy commissioner Chitral that in the meetings of department heads at DC office on a monthly basis what agenda is discussed pertaining to public issues? Is the issue of bypass road and Golen Gol water supply scheme ever discussed in such meetings if it discussed then people want result of such discussion and what action has been taken so far by DC Chitral against the defaulters? As a last resort we appeal to the chairman NAB to take notice of the faulty construction of Golen Gol water supply project and conduct a thorough and transparent inquiry into the matter so that the defaulter could be given exemplary punishment. Abdul Nasir, President Human Rights Chitral]]>