While the government is making tall claims about provision of safe drinking water by 2007 throughout Pakistan, deaths due to consumption of contaminated water are being regularly reported from different parts of the country. In Faisalabad, the third largest city of Pakistan, at least 15 people have died in the space of one week because of an outbreak of gastroenteritis. The residents blame it on the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa), a public entity.

Most affected are the residents of a slum opposite D Block of Ghulam Muhammad Abad (GM Abad), a most thickly populated areas of Faisalabad. The water supply pipelines to this area pass through a big sewer that contains effluents from many industrial units of the city. The residential area is located just 200 metres from the sewer.

"At least seven people, mostly children, have died in our area from gastroenteritis," says Fazal Din of GM Abad, whose 8-year-old son, Ahsan, was amongst the very first victims of the gastroenteritis outbreak. "Ahsan died on May 18. I had rushed him to a hospital after he vomited many times and complained of stomach cramps. But in vain.

"On May 16 and 17 the electricity supply to our area was disrupted due to an earlier storm, consequently we did not get water from Wasa for more than two days. On May 18, when the water supply resumed, the water looked brackish and gave a foul smell. People drank if for a lack of choice and a number of them fell ill."

Other residents of the area told TNS that during the first couple of days the government hospitals did not even have appropriate medicines to treat patients suffering from gastroenteritis. "When I came here on May 18, not even a single doctor was available to attend me," says Shahid, a 30-year-old patient admitted to General Hospital, GM Abad. "I survived because I had age on my side and had greater resistance. I saw many children and elderly people, in apparently better condition than me, die just because of an absence of doctors or proper medicines in the first couple of days of the outbreak," he complained.

According to independent sources at least 15 people have died so far due to this epidemic. Officially, the toll is nine.

"Besides contaminated water, contaminated food or rotten fruit can also cause gastroentritis," says Dr Muhammad Javed, executive district health officer, Faisalabad. "The samples we sent to National Institute for Biotechnology & Genetic Engineering (NIBGE) Faisalabad on May 19 from four different houses of the affected areas, were devoid of the bacteria that causes gastroenteritis."

Naib nazim of Union Council 280 GM Abad, Malik Muhammad Asif, verifies the doctor's claim but to a certain extent. "My mother complained of gastroenteritis just two days back, though we only use boiled water. It is right that there was some 'problem' with water on the night of May 18 when Wasa resumed the supply after a gap of some 20 hours due to an electricity breakdown. But I don't we can say for certain that outbreak has been by water supplied by Wasa," he adds.

NIBGE director Dr Yusuf Zafar confirms the four samples provided by the city district government on May 19 did not contain pathogens that cause gastroentritis. Later, the institute on its own collected water samples from the same houses, but found no gastroenteritis causing bacteria in it.

"At the same time," Dr Zafar says "we took samples of drinking water from the institute's own housing society that is also provided by Wasa. We did this just to check our system, and very surprisingly found that the samples from the institute's colony had around 1000 units of pathogens per millimetre in it. According to strict standards, water should be free of pathogens. This was strange and that is why we further investigated the samples we got from the affected areas (GM Abad) and found that they had excessive amount of chlorine in them. The acceptable level of chlorine in drinking water is 0.04 particles per million but in these samples the chlorine's ratio was 0.1 ppm or 250 per cent more than the acceptable level. How can pathogens survive in water laced with such huge quantity of chlorine?"

The EDO Health Faisalabad Dr Muhammad Javed confirms usage of high quantity of chlorine in drinking water in affected areas "to protect people from harmful bacteria." He adds excessive chlorine in drinking water poses no threat to human health.

A World Health Organization (WHO) report disagrees. 'Chlorine in Drinking-water' says excessive amount of chlorine in drinking water can even cause cancer. "It has been reported that asthma can trigger from exposure to chlorinated water. An increased risk of bladder cancer appeared to be associated with the consumption of chlorinated tapwater," states the report.

District Health Officer Faisalabad, Rana Imran, says 80 per cent of the patients hit by the gastroentritis outbreak hail from the slum areas of GM Abad. "These are the areas where water pipelines have not been changed for the last 47 years while in most parts of the city Wasa replaced the old water supply pipes in 1982."

It would appear that even the 'new' pipes need to be inspected as the average age of Wasa pipelines is stated to be around 22 years.

According to DHO, between May 18 and the morning of May 25, 10,369 patients complaining of gastroenteritis had visited government and private hospitals in Faisalabad. General Hospital GM Abad received most of the patients.

"The patients who came to us had a common complaint -- they felt pain in stomach after drinking water from the Wasa supply lines on May 18," Imran says.

The Local Government Ordinance, 2001, clearly states that the provision of drinking water is responsibility of 'concerned local governments' (clause 94 Water Supply). However, district nazim Faisalabad, Rana Zahid Tauseef, is as yet unable to identify the department or persons responsible for the gastroentritis outbreak in the city. "A four-member committee is investigating the matter and those found responsible will be punished," Zahid Tauseef tells TNS. "Half of Faisalabad city gets its drinking water from Wasa. Wasa's water distribution system here is outdated and we have already started replacing it." he says.

Community-based organisations and NGOs in Faisalabad believe the problem is locating the exact point where the water is getting contaminated.

"The Survey of Pakistan's ariel maps were last produced in 1969 (before that in 1955) and updated for the larger cities in 1972-74," says Malik Nazir Ahmed Wattoo, team coordinator Anjuman Samaj-i-Behbood, Faisalabad. "The planning department in Faisalabad is still relying on these 1969 maps. The absence of documented physical and social infrastructure leads to inappropriate projects, corruption, inflated costs and severe problems in operation and maintenance. In the absence of up-to-date mapping all planning is done on ad hoc basis. Like they have decided to replace the whole water pipelines of the city rather than locating the point where drinking water is being contaminated."

According to Mian Hamid Sultan, coordinator Faisalabad Urban Resource Centre, provision of clean water to all till 2007 is still a distant dream for Faisalabad. So far not even a single water filtration plant has been installed here. "Wasa's underground water storage tanks are also not properly protected. Walls built to protect these tanks are not higher than 5 or 6 feet and there is one guard on duty 24 hours," he says.

Mirza Saifurehman, president Anjuman Behbood-e-Ghariban, Faisalabad, says that over the last four years Faisalabad has been given just Rs 66 million under the Punjab Development Programme -- while to give you an idea, Rahim Yar Khan's share in it over the same period has been Rs 318 million.

"In contrast, Faisalabad's contribution to taxes collected by the Central Board of Revenue between 2001 and 2005 has been Rs 48 billion," he says. "What are we getting in return? A gastroenteritis epidemic in Lahore draws a promise of Rs 1 billion from the chief minister, but we are promised just Rs Rs 200 million."

A Wasa official says that since the introduction of the new local government system Wasa Faisalabad has not got a single penny for its development projects while 80 per cent of its revenue goes into paying electricity bills. The present district nazim, who is also chairman Wasa, has not held a single meeting with Wasa officials since his election.

"We requested the government for a grant of Rs 550 million for upgrading projects. The provincial government had approved it, while the federal government turned down the request just three days before this incident, saying: "We do not have money to spend on drinking water schemes because money is being spent on making big dams." He also says that the quantity of chlorine in water has been doubled after the outbreak. The health department is also responsible for checking the quality of water, he says and asks why is it that the entire blame has been heaped on Wasa.

"If water being provided by Wasa is contaminated the whole city may have the same problem as we are providing water to the whole city from a single source," says Waseem Ahmad Hashmi, director operations and maintenance, Faisalabad.

He suggests things be looked in a broader context. By way of an example, he says while everyone knows that underground water in Faisalabad is undrinkable, there is no one to stop all the ice factories from using the same. "I personally surveyed all the ice factories of Faisalabad after the gastroentritis outbreak to confirm this. It could well be a possible reason for the outbreak of gastroenteritis," he adds.

Factories manufacturing plastic slippers at Ravi Road and adjacent areas, have been disposing waste water in the factories' shallow tanks for decades. Suction pumps installed by factories near the dumping grounds have been sucking contaminated water which is used by factories for industrial use and human consumption. Factory workers have been unknowingly consuming contaminated water.

There are 27 small and big factories in the area and a small unit employs seven to ten workers and consumes at least 200 gallons of water during 24 hours.

Experts say waste water should be disposed of after necessary treatment in deep tanks and suction pumps should not be installed in the dumping area as this raises the risk of sucking contaminated water.

The factories' owners say they do not have the resources to install treatment plants, that is why they are disposing of waste water like this.

"We do not have any incentive from the government or any other authority so we are doing this job on self-help basis and cannot afford to use water supplied by Wasa as the authority charges commercial rates," said Manzoor Ahmed, a plastic manufacturer.

Referring to the situation, Dr M Inam of a local private hospital said that there are many workers who have been suffering from water-borne diseases but they do not bother about them.

He said disposal of waste water in an unsafe way is the main cause of the increasing occurrence of water-borne diseases in the area. Some factories have provided residence to workers and their families and in this situation the workers' children are more prone to fall victim to water-borne diseases.

"No doubt our children face some viral infections, food allergies or other diseases but we have to live with these ills as we do not have a choice," said Mushtaq, a labourer.

However, workers with modest earnings have to consult hakims and quacks for the treatment of their children as there is no government hospital or well maintained dispensary in the area and this condition is taking a heavy toll on children's health.

"We can't afford heavy fees of qualified doctors and have no time to visit state-owned hospitals so these doctors (quacks) suit us. They charge nominal fee and their medicine is also inexpensive," says Javed Mahmood, another worker.

Muhammad Nasim, an official of Wasa Water Laboratory at Outfall Road says the lab has received many samples of water from the area which is definitely contaminated but it is not a problem of Wasa as the factories are using their own water whereas Wasa water is safe and is being drawn from 600 to 700 ft depth which is considered safe from WHO point of view.

Some factory owners say introduction of new technology to treat water will solve the problem as the new technology requires very little water in the process. Then treated water can be used but it is an expensive technology.

"All factory owners are forced to use this old plastic manufacturing technology due to tough competition posed by Chinese products in the market. In a situation where we are exploring ways to cut the cost of our products to stay competitive in the market, we are not in a position to invest in this business," says Meraj Din, another manufacturer.

Meraj says, "Our workers are like our children and we ensure their maximum safety at workplace but it is impossible for us to provide them Wasa water. If the government and concerned authorities provide us Wasa water at non-commercial rates, we will definitely use its water." Another official of Wasa requesting anonymity says, "It is the government which fixes the tariff and we are just employees but the government should provide water to the factories at subsidised rates."

The residents of the area say the factories should be shifted from residential to industrial area near Farrukhabad where a large number of plastic manufacturing units are already working.

"The units should be shifted to industrial area as they emit unbearable heat and noise in the process of making products and we do not find any respite from this nuisance as the units operate round the clock," says Haji Owais, who lives amidst plastic factories on Ravi Road.

Contesting this, Saad Khan, a plastic manufacturing factory owner says, "Most of the units were established in the area in the 60s and some factories are working here since before partition whereas people started constructing houses here later, so shifting is out of question. We will try to adopt safe methods of waste water disposal though. We have come to know of this problem in recent years and we will try our best to solve it on self-help basis. Any assistance from the government will be very helpful in this regard."

Do we have an alternative to big billboards? What are the other ways to advertise? Can the structure of the existing billboards be made stronger? How do other cities in the world cope with the situation? Can we learn from the example of other cities in the world? These questions are once again popping up in the mind of the advertisers, the city lovers and the concerned government officials in Lahore.

Some suggest that switching over to other ways of advertising is a better option. Still, others believe that hoardings cannot be totally done away with. Engineers are of the opinion that billboards are a normal ingredient of a big city. They agree though that billboards have to be made safer and aesthetically more attractive by being more imaginative and reducing their number.

The general view is that the splash of colours at every big chowk and elsewhere in the city is a bit too much and has to be got rid of. The cityscape dotted with innumerable hoardings in different sizes has eventually got on the nerves of Lahorites. In addition to the loss of precious lives every year when billboards fall down on people and property, the massive constructions make the city dirty. What is the way out? "We should mark and define areas where billboards should be allowed and from where they have to be removed. As things stand we have given a free hand to the authority which is bad," says Mazhar Hussain, creative director Red Communications, an advertisement company.

"Instead of investing in billboards people should be made aware about other ways of advertising such as through buses. Using buses as advertisement vehicles is a relatively new concept in Lahore which is gaining currency. Other ways to advertise are still to be given a chance here in our part of the world such as by scrolling the advertisements. In this system a number of advertisements are fitted in a van which has a transparent hood on it and the advertisements are rotated one by one digitally. The van continues to move in the city for the allotted hours for the advertisements. There is some company in Lahore that offers this way of advertising."

Dr. Javaid Yunus Uppal, a Ph.D in Structures and a consultant to the Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) on matters pertaining to the billboards, believes advertisers have to bring in new ideas as far as advertising through billboards is concerned. "We use only flat hoardings which have proven insecure. The problem is not in the regulations for erecting a hoarding which are quite strict to secure safety but in the implementation. Standards are sometimes compromised at the stage where a contractor installs a billboard. A billboard which is installed fulfilling all the requirements of safety can bear the pressure of the wind blowing at the speed of one hundred and fifty kilometres per hour. Some contractors do not fulfil the technical requirements while erecting a billboard. Every year many licenses of contractors are cancelled because they fail to come up to the requirements set by the PHA. We have to make sure that no contractor makes compromises on his work."

Uppal believes we have also to try out new concepts which are aesthetically good and safe. "There are various types of billboards such as curved billboards, transparent billboards and rolling signs. Our weather conditions are such that we should opt for other types of billboards and signboards. Some are controlled by computer programmes. And they are not very big either." Uppal agrees that hoardings have only taken away the beauty of the city. "We don't need as many hoardings as we have today. The big structures look quite ugly from behind."

"Too many big advertisements on roads distract the driver and can cause accidents," says Sardar Humayun Khan, joint secretary, Association of Road Users of Pakistan, (ARUP) Punjab chapter. "Another way of advertising is through FM radio. Many people tune in to FM radio these days while driving. So clients have this option too. In fact there is a lot of money involved in the whole process of advertising through hoardings."

The city district government claims PHA does not have the authority to do what it is doing. It says had it been the city district government the situation would have been different. "Section three of the Local Government Ordinance 2001 clearly states that the local government law will overwrite all other laws. The local government law does not recognise PHA," says Rafique Jatoi, district officer public facility (DOPF). "The basic work of the PHA is to beautify the city through flora and fauna. The authority has no policy as far as advertisement through hoardings is concerned. There should be rules and regulations as to how many hoardings and of what size can be placed at one place," he says.

Javaid Shaida, deputy director public relations (PHA) agrees with the view that the number of hoardings should be reduced. "There are 730 big hoardings in the city of the size of 10 by 20 and bigger." We are turning to what he calls 'bulletin boards'. This system means a number of advertisements are displayed on one hoarding. "This reduces the space to be occupied by an advertisement. Then the maximum size of a hoarding should be reduced. We will also see to it that we design a hoarding in a way that increases its wind resistance capacity." Shaida disagrees with Rafique Jatoi, DOPF city district government. "We have been asked to beautify the cantonment area by the concerned authorities which has its own staff but the fact that we have been given the task throws light on our performance."

The discovery of basement chambers under a commercial plaza inside the Sheranwala Gate has unearthed another instance of the complicated situation facing the residents and planner of that part of town.

The plaza was digging out an illegal basement under an already-standing building when in the course of investigation existence of a Mughal-period chambers was discovered, according to Ravi Town's nazim Yousaf Ahad Malik. The building belongs to Sheikh Muhammad Yousaf and Sheikh Muhammad Daud. The archeology department says that the structure's arches, thickness of mortar, size of bricks and pacca kalai plaster provide clear evidence of Mughal construction. Modification/intervention of Sikh period is observed in the 10 to 12 feet high top portion of the building. It has been sealed by a court order until a course of further action is determined upon.

What will then happen to it is hard to say. The walled city is no stranger to ancient structures, and this one is not, it seems, important enough to be preserved. The archeology department speaks only of documenting the structure, not wishing to commit itself to anything more. Its report does say, however, that further construction at the site should be stopped, which is in any case extremely dangerous, with or without antiquities to be rescued. And, it recommends that NOCs should be obtained from the archeology department before digging in the walled city.

Everyone knows, commercial development in the walled city is not restricted to this one plaza. How many commercial projects would have to be either halted or pulled down if every historical stick and stone of the ancient city is to be saved is anyoneís guess. As Orya Maqbool Jan, Director General of Archeology, points out, there are many such undiscovered structures under the built-up surface of the walled city.

The problem is going to be 'committeed', in the time-honoured official tradition. Structural engineers and archeologists will check and report on the strength of the building. But the dilemma posed by this building is more important than any particular historical merit it may have: How to reconcile the demands of this busy urban hub, which is plagued no less than other parts of town by land mafias and unscrupulous commercial developers, with its peculiar needs as one whole, integrated historical monument? It remains to be seen whether the world-bank funded attempts reportedly underway to conserve and restore the walled city will successfully answer the question. In the meanwhile, Lahoris have not seen the last of the scenes witnessed inside Sheranwala Gate since May 18 -- official inspections, confusion, secrecy, rumours of vested interests, ingenuous discoveries of hazardous construction, and grandiose claims and counter-claims of antiquity.

Since everyone must have theses to pass life, I have a few of my own. One of these theses casts the contemporary Pakistanis in the mould of their Gulf brethren who have given us food to eat and a code to abide by when we needed them the most.

Having spent a few years in the Gulf myself, I see the same atmosphere which prevailed there during my stay gradually taking over Pakistan. Needless to say, like all amateur thesis makers, I find the small bits to add to the grand picture that I see emerging. Since all of us are fortunately able to trace our origins in Arab lands, I wonder why we do certain things with the guilt of a recent convert.

The latest bit in the picture is provided by a young primary school student in Lahore. Studying at a private institution in the city, she has broken away with her forefathers' tradition in what appears to be a search for purer Islam. Where her ancestors would say Roza, she reads out Saum from her textbook, without anyone telling the young soul what the term means. Zakat is Zaka'a in her book of phonetics and where the people before her would say Namaz she says Sala'a.

I had the opportunity to go over with her the chapter in her Islamiyat book in which the authors sought to educate the young students about the five pillars of Islam. She knew the answers, but didn't know what those answers meant. I had to tell her that Saum is Roza and when the teacher says Sala'a, she or he is referring to one of the five Namazes in a day.

As I went through the educating exercise, I quite marvelled at the genius of those who are behind this latest purist fusion at some if not all of our schools. For surely, those enrolled at the large number of Urdu medium schools are still going by the old standards where Zakat is Zakat and not Zaka'a and Namaz is still known by its local name.

Only God knows whether the shift from the local to the foreign will ensure greater sawaab for children who are being perfected in the English medium schools here. I suppose the expectation is that this will make them purer Muslims, as they at the same time become more efficient and proficient citizens aided by their expertise in other subjects, particularly in English language. At the rate our businesses are being taken over by the Gulf-based companies, it makes perfect sense.

A simple explanation of the switchover would be that the book was being taught in some Arabic-speaking country and introduced into Pakistan with the facility of all intra-Muslim transactions. Or it could be that some people in or outside the Gulf came up with one simple English-language version for all Muslim countries -- like McArbaia that is served to us as something our own. They have not provided us with a version specific to us, and we have no other option, at least for the time being, but to follow the available text.

I kept wondering until I found myself at a shop which offers books approved by the Punjab Textbook Board and others being taught at some Urdu medium as well as English medium schools. I realised that as yet not all the schools have shifted from Urdu to Arabic to describe religious terms and the change could be limited to a few so called top-rung schools in the city. Nonetheless, I still felt for the young girl who is so suddenly confronted with foreign terms to describe certain things about which she learnt some time ago.

One discovery led to another. I was leafing through an English-language book for class I bearing the stamp of the Punjab Textbook Board, when a certain message at the outset caught my eye. It began: "The progress and development of a country depends on the quality of education of its people. It is a historical fact that Muslims ruled the world for hundreds of years on the basis of the knowledge acquired by their intellectuals, philosophers and scientists..."

Now before an excited reader imagines the unimaginable links between the quoted passage and the Muslim strain above, all I want to say is that the message comes from a certain "General Pervez Mushar(r)af, President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan." I presume he is the same gentleman who was only recently heard expressing a desire to see English language taught as a compulsory subject from class I. It has to be him because second to him only, on the next page we have our own Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi addressing young students (No wonder the students have been found asking their teachers as to which is the most successful spelling of Parwaiz). The man behind the idea of an educated Punjab begins aptly: "The progress in education is at its peak in the present day."

The reports do suggest that it is already very much mandatory for all class I students to read English. The numerous times that we have declared education compulsory is most definitely a measure of our sincerity and our vision.