Residents of Union Council 31 in Rawalpindi have staged a protest after the area faced severe water shortages for more than a week following the breakdown of the central tube well located in front of Quba Mosque. Locals say the tube well has been out of service for seven days and no repairs have been carried out despite repeated complaints to WASA.
The demonstration was led by the Citizen Action Committee and community elders, with Zaheer Ahmad Awan, chairman of the committee, addressing the crowd. He criticised WASA for collecting monthly bills while failing to ensure a basic water supply, and warned that if the tube well is not fixed by the next day, residents will stage a sit-in protest outside the WASA office.
Protesters described the mounting hardships caused by the outage, saying families are forced to buy water from private tankers at high prices and travel to distant locations to fill containers. They also reported that local mosques have not received water, while WASA tankers are allegedly charging up to Rs1,000 to supply mosques.
The Citizen Action Committee demanded immediate restoration of the tube well, transparent repair work and effective oversight. They have called on the Chief Minister of Punjab to take notice, order the prompt repair of the tube well and suspend the WASA managing director for negligence until service is restored.
Community leaders emphasised that restoring the tube well is essential to prevent further distress in Union Council 31 and urged WASA to prioritise repairs and communicate a clear timeline for restoring regular water supply.
