Students, Staffer's Demands Clean Drinking Water In Universities

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th Oct, 2019 ) :Parents, students and staffers have demanded of the authorities concerned to pay special attention for the provision of clean drinking water to the students enrolled in public and private sector universities across the country.

They said the students were scared that their students will contract dangerous diseases as authorities turn a blind eye to the dirty water tanks and expired filters installed at most of the higher educational institutions.

The supply of dirty drinking water in certain universities was causing life threatening diseases among the students, they added.

Despite utilizing millions of rupees during the tenure of previous government, the students were deprived of pure drinking water, said Mubashar Ali a father of students.

Ahsan Ali a staffers said that we were compelled to drink water which was hazardous to health as the water tanks were dirty and nobody cared to change the dirty water tanks and expire filters at filtration plants.

The officials working in the higher educational institutions said that lack of funds for the educational institutions was the major reason for dirty water tanks. They further said that due to poor utilization and lack of funds the water tanks could not be cleaned for years.

But according to parents and students, water tanks could be cleaned and filters could be changed within the available resources and the sole reason was the negligence of varsities management who were least bothered about the health of students.

Amir Jan a student of Science also urged the government to provide clean drinking water to students. He said the water that remains unchanged in tanks for more than three months obviously would be dirty and not drinkable.

It was worth mentioning here that National Assembly Standing Committee on Government Assurances in its meeting held recently had asked Higher Education Commission (HEC) to provide clean drinking water for the students and staff in all public and private universities of the country.

The Committee also directed the HEC to submit a fortnightly report while a policy report must be submitted to the committee within two months regarding clean drinking water in higher education institutions.

He said that out of 206 universities in Pakistan 82 universities belonged to private sector while 124 universities were public. It was informed that despite the assurance made in September, last year, the matter was still unattended.

He said that HEC was already given an appropriate amount of funding and through proper planning and donations the project of drinking water can be completed soon.