Test Wasa water in 34 areas
The High Court yesterday directed the government to test the Wasa water supplied to 34 areas in laboratories of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet), Dhaka University and the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b).
It has also directed the Wasa to pay Tk 1.7 lakh to the committee formed by the local government and rural development (LGRD) ministry for the test.
The committee was ordered to submit its report before the court by July 2.
The HC bench of Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Khairul Alam passed the order while hearing a writ petition filed by Supreme Court lawyer advocate Tanvir Ahmed.
During the hearing, Prof Sabita Rizwana Rahman, head of DU’s Micro-Biology department, appeared before the HC bench as per its May 16 order.
She told the court the test report may vary in different seasons.
Earlier on May 16, Dhaka Wasa admitted that its water was polluted in 57 areas in the city because of faulty supply lines.
The official water supplier in the city made the claims in a report, based on consumers’ allegations, which it submitted to the LGRD ministry last Monday.
The ministry submitted the report before the HC on behalf of Wasa, as per the court’s order the same day.
The report said Wasa would test the water of those areas at the laboratories of Dhaka University, Buet, and icddr,b.
Deputy Attorney General Motaher Hossain Sazu appeared for the LGRD yesterday.
Last month, some residents of Jurain appeared at the Wasa Bhaban in Karwan Bazar with lemons, sugar, and a jar of murky tap water which they said was supplied by Wasa.
As a means of protest, they wanted to “treat” Wasa MD Taqsem A Khan with sherbet. A few days prior to that, Taqsem had said Wasa water was completely safe for drinking.
On May 7, Movement for Safe Wasa Water, a platform of people living in the capital’s Jurain, Shyampur and Kadamtali areas, at a mass hearing, said they were suffering because of the water and asked Wasa to shoulder the responsibility for supplying polluted water to city dwellers.
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