Motorboating in Rawal Lake banned

ISLAMABAD A meeting of the concerned stakeholders held under the chair of Cabinet Division Secretary on Tuesday and came up with a decision of imposing bane on use of motorboats at Rawal Lack to reduce water pollution, it was learnt. After the apex court directions concerned officials of CDA, ICT, RDA, Pak-EPA, TMA Murree convened a meeting on Tuesday with Secretary Cabinet Division Abdur Rauf Chaudhry for taking necessary decisions regarding Rawal Lack pollution. According to official sources privy to the developments, the participants of the meeting discussed the matter of Rawal Lack in details and decided to impose ban on motorised boats plying in Rawal Lake with immediate effect. This was based on the fact that the Rawal Lake is the major source of drinking water for Rawalpindi and motorboats are one of the major sources of water pollution due to discharge of oil and grease from the boat engines. The participants also discussed other sources that are constantly polluting water of lack. The contamination of Rawal lake water always remained an issue of the prime importance. It may be mentioned here that recently the apex court took a suo moto action on an application seeking the courts directions on pollution of water in Rawal Dam. The application was forwarded by ordinary citizens who complained that poultry farms and housing societies were discarding their wastage and garbage into the dams water. During hearing the Supreme Court observed that the authorities concerned-ICT, CDA, RDA, Pak-EPA, WASA and TMA Murree were not cooperating with each other to solve the issue of water poisoning. Moreover, the court directed the officials of CDA, ICT, RDA, Pak-EPA, TMA Murree to convene an emergency meeting with Secretary Cabinet Division Abdur Rauf Chaudhry to discuss the issue of Rawal Lack. The Pak-EPA officials was also directed to take prompt action against housing societies and poultry farms responsible for releasing wastage in Rawal Daam, a main source of water for the twin cities.

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