Lahore: Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar announced the board members for the Punjab Aab-e-Pak Authority on Tuesday, a news source reported. He has appointed General (retd) Ahmed Nawaz Saleem Mela as Chairman, and Secretary Housing & Public Health Naseem Sadiq as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the authority.
It is worth noting that the authority will not comprise of any Member Provincial Assembly (MPA) or Member National Assembly (MNA) from Punjab. The announced board members were all either ex-servicemen, serving businessmen, or serving bureaucrats.
While announcing the names of the board members, Sarwar, who is also the authority’s Patron-in-Chief, said that it was time to take action against companies providing substandard drinking water to the public.
The governor said that the authority will issue licenses to all companies selling drinking water in the province after an investigation and inquiry. He said that the authority will compile the records of all government and private filtration plants operating in Punjab, to check the quality of water they provide. He added that those found selling unhealthy water will receive a jail sentence of two years, along with hefty fines worth millions of rupees.
Sarwar added that he has directed all Water & Sanitation Agency (WASA) Managing Directors (MDs), from all of Punjab’s districts, to brief him on the filtration plants installed for providing drinking water.
He said that they were focused on delivering on the promise of Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan to provide clean drinking water to each district, village, and city, regardless of rich and poor.
