RO plants worth Rs8bn in Thar non-operational: PTI MPA tells Sindh Assembly

KARACHI: A Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) member provincial assembly (MPA), Sidra Imran on Tuesday told the Sindh Assembly that 700 reverse osmosis (RO) plants, worth Rs8bn, in drought-hit Thar region were not functioning, ARY News reported.

Sidra Imran in her adjournment motion said that Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was in power for last 11 years in Sindh but it failed to provide even potable water to people in Thar.

She said that Rs8bn of public money was spent to install the RO plants in Thar to provide drinking water to people drought-hit Thar but due to the negligence and incompetency of the rulers, these plants were non-functional.

On the occasion, Sindh Minister for Local Bodies Saeed Ghani opposed the adjournment motion. Responding to the objection, the PTI MPA asked that was closure of RO plants not an issue of public interest or raising voice for water in Thar was illegal?

Read More: Workers close down RO plants in Thar over non-payment of salaries

Last year in October, the workers of RO plants had closed down over 450 plants across the desert region of Thar to press for payment of their salary not released for last four months.

Reverse osmosis (RO) had been a water purification technology that uses a semipermeable membrane to remove ions, molecules and larger particles from drinking water.

The workers protest to close RO plants had caused severe water shortage in various towns and villages in Thar, forcing them to fall back on the brackish and often unhygienic water of ponds and wells.