Protester says he won’t pay WASA until it compensates for ‘polluted’ water

A man protesting against the WASA chief's claim that its water is perfectly drinkable has said he will not pay the agency a single paisa until it refunds consumers it has billed for “polluted” water.

After daylong protests at the WASA headquarters in Dhaka’s Karwan Bazar on Tuesday, Mizanur Rahman from Jurain told the media that he was “disappointed” at its Managing Director Taqsem A Khan’s refusal to drink water supplied by his very own utility.

Mizanur and his family came to the WASA office in the morning with a jug filled with water of Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority or WASA, some lemons and sugar to prepare lemonade for Taqsem.

File Photo: Dhaka WASA Managing Director Taqsem A Khan speaking at a roundtable organised by Unilever and UNDP at a Dhaka hotel on Nov 29, 2018 on the Sustainable Development Goal on water and sanitation. Photo: Abdullah Al Momin

The WASA managing director, however, denied them an audience and told bdnews24.com he would not drink lemonade made by someone else.

Later, AKM Shaheed Uddin, a WASA director, met Mizanur and his family and assured them of measures after checking the pipes supplying water to their area.

He also said he did not know about a complaint filed by the people of Mizanur’s area in 2012 because he was not in charge at the time.

While leaving the WASA office, Mizanur told the media that WASA must compensate the people who fell ill after drinking its water and the families of those who died after getting sick by drinking water.

“WASA must refund the consumers the money it has charged for polluted water. I won’t pay the WASA a single paisa until it takes these steps,” he added.

Residents of Dhaka have long been complaining about filth in water supplied by WASA.

They vented their anger on social media when Taqsem came up with the claim on Apr 20 that the water supplied by WASA is 100 percent drinkable in reaction to a Transparency International, Bangladesh or TIB report.

TIB on Apr 17 said that at least 91 percent households in Dhaka burn 363.7 million cubic metres of gas worth Tk 3.32 billion annually in order to boil the water supplied by the WASA before drinking it.