Governor constitutes Aab-e-Pak Authority BoG; Chairs first meeting     

• Promise of Prime Minister Imran Khan of providing clean drinking water to every village, district and city irrespective of rich and poor.
• All the office holders will also assume responsibility of Board members of Punjab Aab-E-Pak Authority.

LAHORE: Governor Punjab Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar on Tuesday said that Aab-e-Pak Authority's BoG and office bearers would not receive salary, perks and entertainment allowances from the national exchequer.

Addressing a press conference after chairing first meeting of the Authority at the Governor's House, he said the Aab-e-Pak Authority was established to ensure the provision of pure drinking water in rural and urban Punjab.

He regretted the fact that many died every year for consuming polluted water while many others were affected by Hepatitis and different fatal water-born diseases.

Ch Sarwar said, all private companies dealing in drinking water would be registered under the authority and a license would be issued, adding all those selling unhealthy drinking water would be jailed for two years, besides fines worth millions of rupees.

He also said that records of all government and private filtration plants would be compiled and the quality of the water to be tested.

To a question, he said if an organization was well-structured and worked in a transparent way, there was no question of it being abandoned by the new regimes, adding that Rescue 1122 was set up by the PML-Q government of Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi with honesty of purpose to serve people without discrimination and the PML-N government could not abolish it.

To another query, he said Aab-e-Pak Authority, under his patronage, would deliver on the promise of Prime Minister Imran Khan of providing clean drinking water to every village, district and city irrespective of rich and poor.

Following is the BoG: General (R) Ahmed Nawaz Saleem Maila (Chairman), Secretary Housing and Public health Naseem Sadiq Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Gohar Ijaz, Conevnor Central Punjab & Head Human Resource, Mian Talat Mahmood, Head of the Finance Committee and Rabia Zia, Convenro, North Punjab and Head Social Media, Faisal Mukhtar, Convenor, South Punjab and Khurram Mukhtar, Head Procurement Committee.

All the office holders will also assume responsibility of Board members of Punjab Aab-E-Pak Authority.

Secretary Local Government Syed Waseem Raza, Secretary Planning & Development (P&D) Department Muhammad Ramzan, Secretary Finance Abdullah Sunbal, and Secretary Housing and Public Health Department Naseem Sadiq will also serve as board members of Punjab Aab-e-Pak Authority.