LAHORE: The Punjab government on Saturday came in for a lot of flak from the Supreme Court over non-provision of potable water and dumping of untreated sewage into rivers.
A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar, reproached the provincial authorities for failing to ensure supply of clean drinking water to the people of the province.
The bench, which also comprised of Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan, was hearing a suo motu case pertaining to the disposal of polluted water into Ravi River.
The people of the provincial capital were being supplied toxic and contaminated water, the chief justice observed, asking what the government had been doing over the last ten years.
If the provincial authorities could dole out massive amount of taxpayers’ money to media houses to run advertisement of its performance, they should also get what they had failed to do advertised, he said.
It was a matter of people’s life and death, he noted. The Punjab government invested the lion’s share of financial budget on Orange Line Metro Train, why it didn’t pay any heed to these issues as well, CJP Nisar asked.
He said the government could launch projects such as Orange Line Metro Train and construction motorways, but it should also shift its focus on improving healthcare.
It seemed that health did not figure on the priority list of the provincial government, he added.
“Why shouldn’t I visit hospitals? Someone has to spare a thought for such a condition of people. How people are moaning,” CJP Nisar said.
He lamented that those who are supposed to deliver had failed to do so, adding that someone else had to step in. This was the state of affairs and good governance in Pakistan, he observed.
