The Punjab Aab Pak Authority (PAPA) has formally initiated restoration and repair work on all non-functional water filtration plants in three districts, namely Lahore, Faisalabad and Sargodha.

In order to ensure provision of clean drinking water to the people, committees under chairmanship of the Deputy Commissioners have been constituted in 36 districts of Punjab for installation and restoration of filtration plants, disclosed PAPA spokesperson here on Friday.

In this connection, a meeting of the Authority was held with its Patron-in-Chief Punjab Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar in the chair. PAPA Chief Executive Officer/WASA Managing Director Zahid Aziz, PAPA Chairman Gen Ahmed Nawaz Saleem Mela (rerd), Board Member/Principal Secretary to Governor Dr Rashid Mansoor and other members of the board attended the meeting.

The meeting was briefed that after assessing the lists of non-operative filtration plants in Lahore and other districts of Punjab, work on restoration of such filtration plants has formally been commenced in Lahore, Faisalabad and Sargodha, and respective Deputy Commissioners are looking into all matters.

During the meeting, PAPA's Patron-in-Chief Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar said that the Authority has set the target to provide clean drinking water to 20 million people of Punjab by June 2020 for which effective measures are being put in place.

"Each penny of the Authority will transparently be spent on provision of clean water to the masses. I will review progress on filtration plants' restoration work on weekly basis and any leniency in this regard will not be tolerated. In the first phase, those districts are being focused where the water problem is severe, and rural areas are also among government's priorities," he added.