By Ali Raza
LAHORE: Health of hundred of students is at risk as drinking water in four different schools and a college contained bacterial contamination and declared unfit for human consumption by the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA)Some months back Punjab Environmental Protection Department (EPD) in a random sampling detected bacterial contamination in different teaching hospitals and colleges included King Edward Medical College, Mayo Hospital, Ganga Ram Hospital, Fatimah Jinnah Medical College, Jinnah Hospital, Allama Iqbal Medical Colleges, Sheikh Zaid Hospital, Kinnaird College University, Lahore College Women University, APWA College, Services Hospital, New Kashmir Girls High School and Government Degree College for Women in Kot Khwaja Saeed.Polluted drinking water has already become a serious threat to Lahorites as majority of localities in the provincial capital are getting water with bacterial contamination resulting in spread of different diseases especially of stomach. Water contamination is also resulting in illnesses such as diarrhea, typhoid, intestinal worms and hepatitis among the students and teachers of these colleges as well as among the patients and their attendants.WASA officials said the common bacterial contamination found in the defective samples was the presence of Coliform Bacteria, which according to the WHO standards should be 0 in 100 ml. Officials said presence of Coliform Bacteria in water is a clear indicator that sewer water is mixed in the water distribution system.Coliform Bacteria are abundant in feces of warm-blooded animals. In most instances, Coliforms themselves are not the cause of sickness, but they are easy to culture and their presence is used to indicate that other pathogenic organisms of fecal origin may be present. Fecal pathogens include bacteria, viruses, protozoa or parasites.Following the increasing complaints of the masses regarding water contamination, WASA recently collected tap water samples from different areas of the city. During the random sampling, WASA detected water contamination in various localities including five samples from schools and a college.Two samples were collected from Dawn Public School, Saeed Park, Shahdara and both were found highly contaminated. The only sample of Govt Boys High School, Shahdara was found contaminated. The sample collected from Laureate Lahore Senior School 152, Ali Block, New Garden Town was also found contaminated.The water sample taken from the tap of the kitchen of Fast College, Faisal Town was also found highly contaminated while the sample collected from the tap of left side of the Main Gate of the Fast College, Car Parking, Faisal Town was also found contaminated.Rest of the samples found contaminated are collected from Tap R/O Muhammad Younas Mughal H # 7, Main Road Qazi Park, Shahdara, Tap H # 1082, CII, China Scheme, Tap H # 2, S # 106, Qasir Town, Shahdara, Tap H # 15, S # 2S, Saeed Park, Shahdara, Tap H # 142, S # 98, Qasim Park, Shahdara, P.S.P. Qaisar Town, Shahdara, Tap H # 125, Block DII, Gulshan Ravi, Tap H # 1152, S # 25, Madina Colony, Gulshan Ravi, Tap H # 6, S # 25, Madina Colony, Gulshan Ravi, Tap H # 6, DI, Gulshan Ravi, Tap H # 41-A, Ali Block, New Garden Town, Tap H # 4, Akbar Street, Javen Hana, New Garden Town, Tap H # 71, Ali Block, New Garden Town, Tap H#142, Habib Ullah Road,Garhi Shahu, Tap H # 86, Kachi Abadi, Habib Ullah Road, Tap H # 11, S # 13, Mohammad Nagar, Tap Moneeb Autos Workshop, Mohammad Nagar, Tap H # 307, S # 4, Marzi Pura, Tap H # 36, S # 2B, Saeed Park, Shahdara, Tap H # 29, S # 2, Saeed Park, Shahdara, Tap H # 6, S # 9, Bilal Gunj and Tap Office Union Concil District Govt.This news is published in The News on May 30, 2008.
Courtesy: pollutedlahore.blogspot.com
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Fuel shortage forces PU to stop bus service
By Khalid Khattak
LAHORE: THE shortage of diesel in the market has forced the Punjab University to suspend its bus service for students.Nonetheless the university administration is reluctant to buy diesel available on inflated prices as it would create problems during annual audit, say those who are at the helm. The suspension of bus service by the P
unjab University (PU) has been causing great troubles to the students as most of them are now solely dependant on public transport.It is learnt that similar problem of diesel’s shortage was being faced by other universities which are planning to cut the number of buses being used to pick and drop students.The Punjab University which has the largest fleet of buses among public sector universities of the metropolis is, at the moment, providing only shuttle service to its students between varsity’s Old Campus and New Campus. While service to pick and drop PU students from different localities of the city has been suspended by the university administration for the last two days.The total strength of PU students is over 25,000 while according to an estimate over 15,000 students use varsity’s transport service on daily basis to reach both campuses from various areas of the city.Talking to The News, a number of students expressed concern over suspension of PU bus service and criticised the government for not addressing the issue of fuel shortage on priority basis. Mehwish, a student, said female students were worst hit by the suspension of varsity’s bus service adding that certainly no one could blame PU administration for this. “It is quite difficult for a female student to use public transport these days”, she said adding, “The massive rush on roads adds to their miseries.”Another student said it was quite strange to note that PU did not have a single CNG-bus. He said the situation would have been different provided university had such buses.He suggested that universities should induct CNG-buses in their fleet. He said it would not only reduce environmental issues but would also help reducing expenditures spent on fuel.When contacted, PU Registrar Prof Dr Muhammad Naeem Khan said that bus service on various routes had to be suspended because of shortage of diesel. He said the service would be resumed as soon as availability of diesel was ensured. He said the univers
ity would certainly plan to convert maximum number of its buses on CNG.Talking to The News, PU Resident Officer (RO-I) Dr Bashir Ahmed said the university was facing shortage of diesel for its buses owing to which only shuttle service was being provided to the students. He said the shuttle service was earlier provided after every half an hour from the varsity’s Old and New Campus but now it was being offered after a delay of one hour.He said students as well as their parents had been informed that some routes would not be operational for some time because of shortage of diesel.Dr Bashir said total consumption of fuel by the PU buses was over 3,000 liters per day. He said the university could not purchase diesel on inflated prices as it would lead to audit objections.
LAHORE: THE shortage of diesel in the market has forced the Punjab University to suspend its bus service for students.Nonetheless the university administration is reluctant to buy diesel available on inflated prices as it would create problems during annual audit, say those who are at the helm. The suspension of bus service by the P
unjab University (PU) has been causing great troubles to the students as most of them are now solely dependant on public transport.It is learnt that similar problem of diesel’s shortage was being faced by other universities which are planning to cut the number of buses being used to pick and drop students.The Punjab University which has the largest fleet of buses among public sector universities of the metropolis is, at the moment, providing only shuttle service to its students between varsity’s Old Campus and New Campus. While service to pick and drop PU students from different localities of the city has been suspended by the university administration for the last two days.The total strength of PU students is over 25,000 while according to an estimate over 15,000 students use varsity’s transport service on daily basis to reach both campuses from various areas of the city.Talking to The News, a number of students expressed concern over suspension of PU bus service and criticised the government for not addressing the issue of fuel shortage on priority basis. Mehwish, a student, said female students were worst hit by the suspension of varsity’s bus service adding that certainly no one could blame PU administration for this. “It is quite difficult for a female student to use public transport these days”, she said adding, “The massive rush on roads adds to their miseries.”Another student said it was quite strange to note that PU did not have a single CNG-bus. He said the situation would have been different provided university had such buses.He suggested that universities should induct CNG-buses in their fleet. He said it would not only reduce environmental issues but would also help reducing expenditures spent on fuel.When contacted, PU Registrar Prof Dr Muhammad Naeem Khan said that bus service on various routes had to be suspended because of shortage of diesel. He said the service would be resumed as soon as availability of diesel was ensured. He said the univers
ity would certainly plan to convert maximum number of its buses on CNG.Talking to The News, PU Resident Officer (RO-I) Dr Bashir Ahmed said the university was facing shortage of diesel for its buses owing to which only shuttle service was being provided to the students. He said the shuttle service was earlier provided after every half an hour from the varsity’s Old and New Campus but now it was being offered after a delay of one hour.He said students as well as their parents had been informed that some routes would not be operational for some time because of shortage of diesel.Dr Bashir said total consumption of fuel by the PU buses was over 3,000 liters per day. He said the university could not purchase diesel on inflated prices as it would lead to audit objections.
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