The Punjab Government is committed to invest in water sector and funds worth Rs 62.7 billion has been allocated in current financial year in the sector which is almost five times increase during the last four years.

The Punjab Government is committed to invest in water sector and funds worth Rs 62.7 billion has been allocated in current financial year in the sector which is almost five times increase during the last four years. This was stated by Punjab Minister for Housing, Urban Development and Public Health Engineering Malik Tanveer Aslam while addressing a seminar on water and sanitation jointly arranged by University of Agriculture Faisalabad and Water and Sanitation Agency ( WASA) at New Senate Hall on Thursday. Commissioner Faisalabad Momin Agha presented the key note in his inaugural address whereas UAF Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan highlighted the importance of clean drinking water and sanitation issues. District Coordinator Officer (DCO) Faisalabad Salman Ghani, DCO Toba Tek Singh Amir Ijaz Akber, Additional District Collector (ADC) Malik Awais, ADC Chiniot Sanaullah gave the presentations on water and sanitation roadmap 2020-25. Among others, the seminar was attended by Parliamentarians Ch Asadur Rehman, Mian Muhammad Rafique. Fatima Fareeha, Vice Chairman WASA Irfan Manan, WASA MD Syed Zahid Aziz, Water and Sanitation Specialists and other development partners. The minister appreciated the steps of holding the seminar on intense issue of these days and said that Momin Agha and Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan had taken the good initiatives to organize a consultative seminar to deliberate on development of water and sanitation sector. He said that provision of quality water and sanitation services as per international standards was really a big challenge for the government which could be met effectively with the joint efforts of experts, policymakers, academia and other stakeholders. He said that water and sanitation was one of the social issue for human services and played an important role in sustainable development. He said that a largest gap exists between the maintenance and expansion fronts which could only be bridged up with the solid and comprehensive strategies and policies. He emphasized upon the revisiting the policies, mandate and structure of the WASA in five cities and TMAs with the view to introduce needed autonomy and reforms including the introduction of performance based system. He stressed to focus on budget support to the sector and updating the financial management system in W, public health engineering department and TMAs to raise the sector funding from market and other sources. He said that there is need to introduce public private model in this regard. The Minister said that Punjab government believed on involving all stakeholders especially private sector who could bring modern expertise and best solution in the interest of the public. He said that today presentation and discussion were well focused on the challenges and sanitation sector, private sector involvement, international best practices, tangible proposals from the participants on the structuring and revamping on water and sanitation in all TMAs of Faisalabad Division. Commissioner Momin Agha highlighted the objectives of holding the seminar and said that the government was spending billions of rupees every year for the provision of water supply and drainage but issue relating to water and sanitation are still to be addressed. He said that state-of-the-art water and sanitation system will be provided in the each and every corner in Faisalabad Division as per the vision of Punjab Chief Minister. He said that the comprehensive and solid strategy should be focused for improving the sanitation condition at tehsil level to come up with the expectation of the people. He informed that a model was being followed in Jhang district to approve the sanitation after having study by Nespak and technical support of WASA Faisalabad was being provided. He hoped that that recommendations and proposals of the seminar would help to improve and sustainable sanitation at TMA level. UAF Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan stressed upon the need to establish a working group of experts from UAF, WASA and other institutes to fight the challenges of water and sanitation. He lauded the steps being taken on the part of the government to provide the clean water and healthy environment for the people. He said that that the UAF was running a programme of One Health aimed at raising the awareness among the people about the balanced food and way of life. He said that a century ago, Faisalabad was a deserted land and it tuned to a fertile land after canals . He said that the water scarcity issue has started playing havoc and the country was placed in the list of water scarce countries. He said that UAF was carrying out the tangible researches to address the issue. He said that to overcome the water wastage, water pricing on must be kicked off for the cause. He said in Australia, every house is bound to set up rainwater tank at their rooftop. The same model needs to be established in Pakistan also. Dean Faculty of Agriculture Engineering Prof Dr Allah Buksh said that rainwater technology must be used for irrigation and ground water recharge. He said that modern irrigation methods like drip irrigation must be used at the time when the country had become water scarce country. He said that a strtagy must be mapped out to address the issue and for the future generations. Senior Water and Sanitation Specialist Masroor Ahmad said that 593 out of 5000 people who are using the unsafe water are living in Pakistan. He said that more steps are needed to address the issue of the safe water. MD Wasa Zahid Aziz said that water and sanitation of master plan of every district was being devised to fight the challenge. He said the modern technologies were being used to provide the safe water to the people and drainage system.