Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Apropos a news item titled “79m Pakistanis still lack a decent toilet: report” that appeared in the November 23, 2017, edition of Daily Times and covered WaterAid’s ‘Saaf Sehatmand Pakistan’ campaign, the international organisation has issued a follow-up press release, stating that the draft of the previous press release circulated by WaterAid team was not the approved final version of the statement.

“This resulted in producing partial statistics and quotes of the government officials and distinguished guests that did not reflect the actual proceedings. We WaterAid take the responsibility of this error,” the statement issued on Thursday read.

It added that the quote of Secretary, Housing and Urban Development and Public Health Engineering Department (HUD & PHED) Capt (r.) Muhammad Khurram Agha was mistakenly attributed to him. The excerpt from actual speech is reproduced below:

“On the occasion, Secretary, HUD & PHE Department Muhammad Khurram Agha reiterated government’s commitment towards improving sanitation facilities and fully recognised that sustainable sanitation is a human right and a matter of dignity, equality, and safety. The Secretary, HUD & PHED also presented vision of the Chief Minister Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif and details of large-scale programmes that government of Punjab is undertaking on liquid waste management, water quality and safety, creation of open defecation free environment, promotion of hygiene behaviours and reduction of malnutrition among children and mothers.”

The new statement added that Pakistan was making great progress on access to improved sanitation. “Last year, it was the sixth best country for improving access to decent toilets, increasing coverage by 27%, becoming among few countries globally who met the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) sanitation target by transforming lives of hundreds of thousands of its people,” cited a report ‘Out of Order: The State of World’s Toilet’ released by WaterAid to mark World Toilet Day 2017.

“Making use of the global momentum, the Housing, Urban Development & Public Health Engineering Department (HUD & PHE) Department Punjab, organised National Sanitation Week and celebrated World Toilet Day event on 22 November in Lahore. The large number of government departments, international organisations, local organisations and media attended the event. Leading organisations, who are developing technological solutions, brought their locally developed sanitation models to demonstrate ongoing efforts on solving sanitation needs of the both urban and rural people,” it concluded.

Published in Daily Times, November 24^th 2017.