Living in Media Town

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Media Town is a housing project of Rawalpindi-Islamabad Press Club for the media personnel and journalists. It is adjacent to Police Foundation (O-9) and Bahria Town. It lies some 7.5 kilometers from Islamabad International Air Port turning on the main Islamabad Express Way. One can easily reach to Margalla Road, the farthest end of Islamabad in the foot of Margalla hills, in 20-25 minutes via Islamabad Express Way, no matter if it is rush hour. However, there could be traffic hold ups due to VVIP movement between Islamabad and the Airport.


Water



It has been a more than a week since I moved to Media Town. There is no gas and water supply is pathetic. For days you do not have a drop of water and have to hunt for the tractor-tanker of Arshad & Co, the developers of Media Town. You have to provide a pet bottle of diesel for the service, but you have to rip your wall to allow the pvc pipe to drop water into your underground tank. I asked Mr Mushtaq Minhas if the Media Town management could procure a hose for the tanker and he said that they were already paying 15,000 rupees electricity bill per month for the water pumps and the Arshad & Co's tanker and tractor was not charging anything so basically it was a free service to the residents. If the residents themselves raise money through regular monthly fees for services then it would be possible to provide all the services. So it is a long way to go.

If you are desperate for water, you have to dial a tanker (private tanker service) who come from Kak Pul and charge 750 to 800 rupees for the fill. Today I caught hold of the Arshad & Co tanker driver, but he said that he had no hose and I had to let the tanker inside the porch, but it was too risky for the marble, ramp and other stuff which is on a filled up base. So I decided to go for the expensive tanker service.

UPDATE: Water supply has considerably improved after Eid holidays. During Eid holidays even private tankers were not available. I made a whole in the boundary wall for the water tanker pipe, but had to hardly use it twice. Since then getting daily water supply and today (September 15) checked the underground tank level was high. If they keep the supply regular, then it should be no problem.

Natural Gas

Another big problem I am facing is lack of natural gas connection. Had to spend a lot of time and money on LPG cylinders and LPG gas stove. Had tried three stoves, but they were all leaking. For LPG use you have to replace the jets, but those stoves do not work properly. I was lucky to find a dedicated LPG stove from Murree Road Rawalpindi. Keep 15,000 for two cylinders (with gas) and stove and couple of thousands for water tankers. I asked Mr Minhas if gas lines were in serviceable condition in A block, he said yes the lines were ok and I must pursue my application with SNGPL which I have been doing since Wednesday. Have heard about a couple of  households in D block have got natural gas connection.

Landline Phone and Cable TV

One more problem is cable television. There is no cable tv network in Media Town yet. I have SUN TV equipment lying with me for the past three years as I had cable in previous house. Now I do not have energy to install it myself and finding no installer in the area. So I have ordered PTCL Smart TV for which I will have to get a landline and DSL connection. Everything was done on phone and they said that I will be getting the service within 15 days provided the lines are available in the area and all the charges will come in first bill. Quite convenient, but then I have read mixed review about the Smart TV. Let's see if it comes and works otherwise I will keep the landline and unsubscribe the Smart TV. Another concern is that pathetic complaint handling of PTCL these days, if the line is down everything will be out. I think that since the areas is quite new, they must have fiber trunk on the main road passing nearby my house.

UPDATE:  PTCL smart tv service not available in the exchange so I told them to cancel my order. Meanwhile SUN TV, now rebranded as DWN (Digital Wireless Network) is working fine at my premises. It is hundreds of times better than the crappy cable in terms of picture and sound quality. Got my old SUN TV replaced. Wateen Wi-Max Internet (wirelss dsl) is very strong in the area and it is working satisfactorily.



Waste disposal

No waste disposal system yet, so you have to burn your trash Osama bin Laden style. They say when there will be more houses built and lived, then community trash collection system will be created. So early birds have to fend for themselves and late comers to enjoy all the facilities ready made.

Security

There are some private security guards in Media Town, but the one I met and the other I saw were not so up to the mark. Looked like some suspicious and fatigued souls. One of them, a white bearded one when I told him to take care of my house, said "Sir Ramadan is coming and you should also take care of us,"

There is no fence of boundary wall in Media Town which makes its vulnerable as there are no street lights. Poles and lights are there but society does not have money for energizing them.

Maintenance



A lot of wild bush has grown high in Media Town, particularly in A block and poses a security hazard. Things are better in B,C and D blocks as the gardeners are sometimes seen busy around the roundabout and the median.

Shopping

You have to go to Police Foundation, PWD housing society, Bahria Town or Gulrez for the grocery and other stuff which is not a big problem as there are many markets in the two-kilometer radius. I have yet to find shops selling quality stuff.

Internet connectivity

Today installed my Wateen WiMax and LinkSys Wifi hotspot and it was pretty fast. In I-8/4 I was getting very weak signals and here in Media Town the signals were full and speed was great being a 256Kbps connection. Also Telenor USB EDGE was working very fast. Mobile phone signals are also good.

August 9, 2011

The water that I got on Friday was finished around Monday midnight. Called the tanker guy but he said that in Ramadan night delivery would remain suspended and he told me that he will bring water after 6.00am but he came at 7:15am and we had no water and used drinking water for essential tasks. The water supply is out of order since July 28 when I moved and I cannot avail the facility provided by Arshad & Co because they do not have the hose pipe. I hope that water supply gets restored soon. Just called the Gas office and they informed me that the demand note is ready. Will go tomorrow morning as it sounds too good to believe :-)







August 10, 2011

Still no water supply from Media Town pump. The purchase of water is putting a big hole in the pocket now. I hope that once I get meagre water supply it would reduce this burden.

Went to SNGP office in I-9 early in the morning. Found out wrong spelling of my name in the documents to had to wait for the official to come to his desk and correct it. Then the official who was supposed to provide me a two-page pink contract form told me that there were no contract forms available and I should come back after 10 days to see if the forms requested from the head office had arrived or not. I searched the market facing the SNGPL office, but all except one stamp vendor had it and he was asking too much for that. So I called a source and he guided me to another official who gave me one. Now the survey has been completed and SNGPL will send a proposal letter to my address after which I will have to attach required documents and deposit some 5,000 rupees in bank and after that rest of the procedure will take place.

August 11, 2011

Last night dug out my Sun TV equipment and wires and it was working as signals were strong. Just put the antenna on the porch roof and it was good. Bought a monthly subscription card from Ripples, but could not recharge it. The call center had closed at 9.00pm. Today I was able to recharge the account after hit and trial as I have forgotten the procedure, but after several attempts I was able to do it and all channels became available.

August 12, 2011

Today some water came from Media Town water supply.

August 13, 2011

Water supply came today!. Electrician came in the morning and passed the cable from pipe. Also fixed the SUN TV antenna on the roof top and placed two sockets in the house on UPS for Wi-Fi Internet and and charging. Another power socket was installed in the side alley for washer and other stuff. Thanks God no loadshedding these days. Got a call from DWN (formerly SUN TV) that they could deliver and install the new equipment at my house and take back the old one for 6,000 rupees and I said yes. After couple of hours the DWN personnel came and replaced the receiver. Now I can watch 67 channels with crystal clear quality and great sound. There is also an option to record and play your programs via USB and also watch your own movies from a USB memory stick or hard disk.

August 22, 2011

Today went to SNGPL office for gas connection demand note. I reached there early, but the official whom I was supposed to meet and get demand note was not in his office. Visited the GM office twice and they diverted me again to chief sales officers.

I was running short of time and cursing myself for the wasted time and fuel and also had to reach office so when I decided to pass it on, the official appeared, but there was a great shock.

The documents had gone missing. They were not delivered by the courier to my house, nor they were in the returned mail tray.

I was then diverted to another official who sent me to dispatch section to get the copies. It was a hot and humid day and I had to do a lot of walking and running from one office to another.

Got the photocopies and got it again signed by the same official and then back to dispatch section. They stamped on it told me to deposit money in bank. When I reached Bank Alfalah I-10/3 Branch, the guard said that I should go back to customer service centre and they will issue me a demand note which will be submitted in the bank.

I went back to SNGPL office, bought a test report for 300 rupees, attached ID card and property papers and went to customer centre. Again there was a snag. The survey department had given different charges in the computer record and the proposal letter. So marched back to sales office again got it corrected went back to customer service center, got the demand not, travelled again to the bank, got in the line, paid the amount and they headed to office all exhausted.

August 29, 2011

Today I called up several people to find out why they were giving too little water supply. I was about to go all dry and was told by the staff handling the water supply that today they were not giving any water, because they had planned to release the water on Tuesday so that people had enough for the Eid holidays. But I insisted that I want the water today and keeping in view the track record of the Media Town water supply, I ordered a private water tanker. As soon as the tanker arrived in about half an hour, water supply also started.

But as the tanker was leaving, a big leak was detected at some distance from my house. So in the end my decision to buy an expensive water tanker was correct, because Media Town's patchy water supply lines again ruptured. Actually they have laid a very low quality PVC pipe which gets cracked too often. I am worried about the future of the water supply, but I was told that there were eight tube wells in the scheme. I think they need to have a better pipeline.

September 4, 2011

Thanks God, no security issues were encountered during Eid holidays. Was surprised there
were joint night patrols by Bahria Town security and Police in A block. They
were equipped with search lights. Finally got a hole made in the boundary wall
for the MT water tanker. It is six times cheaper than the private service. Hope
that the pipeline is repaired on Monday. There was no private water tanker
available for the whole week due to Eid holidays. If I had not got the supply
from MT, I would have gone totally dry on Saturday. Here are some night
views.


School transfer: Currently I am facing problems in getting my son's school enrolement transferred to Gulrez. Last week I managed to get him in the Gulrez Branch of on provisional basis. I had applied for transfer on August 15 and after a lot of following up today I was able to get the approval moved from school group office to regional office. The regional office staff assured that they will do it on Friday.

School vans fares are too much here. In Islamabad it was way less. All the drivers citing hike in CNG prices and CNG holidays. My son's school is just 2.5 kilometers from my house, but I cannot pick him up after school close because my office is in Islamabad. On Friday has to finalize the school van.

Natural Gas

December 6, 2011

Having deposited the demand note for gas connection in the last week of August, I had been waiting for the natural gas connection I was told could take three months. But December has arrived, but no gas. It is a long story how I managed to catch hold of gas company officials, but when the digging started another shock came that the contractor had not laid the gas pipeline in my street. So had to pay from my pocket to dig along the service road and trace the pipe near the pole and from pole a ditch was dug upto the corner of my house. There are no maps available at the colony office, nor anyone has the number of contractor who liad the pipeline. SNGPL officials are also clueless. Now I will have to pay for the pipe from the corner. But it is sad that the contractor took full payment from the Media Town management but did not complete the job and now the poor residents have to face hardship, both physical and financial due to lack of an essential service like natural gas. The guys promised that after Muharram holidays, they will come and install the meter. I am praying that there are no more other snags as it is getting really cold in here. So far using electric heater, immersion rod and LPG, which are very heavy on pocket and also LPG is so cumbersome.