Draft National Drinking Water Policy opposed

Speaking on the occasion, drinking water experts, Mohammad Jahangir, Mohsin Babbar and Dr Humayun were of the view that the NDWP is full of wish lists and no easy solutions are given in the policy for resolution of problems related to drinking water.

They questioned that no responsibilities are delegated in the policy, while strengthening of technical and financial capacity of relevant departments is also not mentioned.

“The policy needs to have a source protection programme, e.g. mixing of untreated sewerage in fresh water to be stopped. At the same time the policy lacks implementation plan as well,” they added.

The District Nazim was of the view that bureaucracy is the major hurdle behind failure in public delivery system, including provision of safe drinking water to the commoners. He suggested that drinking water issue could be resolved by pooling and integrating funding from civil society organisations.