SHC seeks answers from civic bodies

Karachi
The Sindh High Court has directed the local bodies secretary and the Karachi Sewerage & Water Board to submit reports explaining what action has been against officials allegedly involved in creating an artificial water crisis as well as against those running illegal water hydrants in the city.
The directive came at a hearing of two identical petitions on Friday filed by Rana Faizul Hasan, who sought action over what he described as an artificial water shortage and the running of illegal hydrants under “the patronage of KWSB officials”.
He charged that officials of the local government, the Karachi Water & Sewerage Board and the Karachi Municipal Corporation were behind the persisting shortage of water in the metropolis, which helped the mafia involved in stealing water and then selling it to citizens at exorbitant rates through tankers.
He said citizens were experiencing an acute shortage of water as the mafia was not only actively stealing the essential commodity but also selling it to industrialists.
The petitioner also pointed out that the legal water hydrants run by the KWSB were supposed to conduct their operations for four hours daily, but contractors who had been awarded contracts to operate those hydrants were operating them beyond the fixed hours, thereby aggravating the situation.
He said the legal hydrants at Nipa Chowrangi, Garden and Sakhi Hasan were involved in excessive operations, where more than one water pumps were being used to extract water.
The high court heard that under the official policy adopted in 2010 regarding the water hydrants, the KWSB was responsible for legally awarding tenders to private contractors to run its legal hydrants. However, the petitioner said that there were 117 illegal hydrants operating across the city, details of which may be called from the board’s managing director.
He further contended that easy access to the basic amenities such as water was a fundamental right of every citizen as guaranteed under articles 4, 8, 9 and 25 of the constitution, but the authorities concerned were failing to protect that right.
He asked the court to call details from the local government, the KWSB managing director, the KMC administrator and Karachi’s commissioner of any action taken against the officials and private persons involved in creating the water crisis and helping the tankers mafia exploit the situation to mint money.
The court was also urged to issue directives to the provincial police and Rangers chiefs to take action against those operating illegal hydrants and station house officers in whose areas the illegal business was being conducted.
A division bench, headed by Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, observed that notices were issued to the respondents, but no response was filed. It directed the respondents to file their reports by May 28.

PTI for immediate steps
Owing to the worsening water crisis in the city, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) while addressing a press conference on Friday demanded of the government and KWSB to take immediate measures to resolve the problem.
PTI Karachi President Ali Zaidi claimed that the situation exacerbated gradually due to the negligence of the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) led Sindh government, which he said had dominated the province since the past three decades.
“How is water available in hydrants and tankers but not in the pipelines? “, he exclaimed.
Referring to former Sindh Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza’s comments, made during an interview with a private TV channel, regarding the city’s water being diverted to the Bahria Town project, Ali said, “The diversion was causing an acute water shortage; a Joint Investigation Team should be set up to examine the allegations.” He suggested dividing the water supply in accordance with the population of the areas and make the process transparent by making public announcements through media.
Senior PTI leader Firdous Shamim Naqvi demanded to privatise KWSB. “Rs162 billion were allocated for the Metrobus project in comparison to the Rs27 billion needed to uplift the water departments,” he added.
The party while announcing its plan of action warned to hold protests to force the government into action, in case of a failure to resolve the problem.
Earlier, during the press conference, Zaidi demanded to make public the political affiliation of the accused convicted for the murder of senior PTI leader Zahra Shahid.
Speaking of the Safoora bus massacre, he added that, “If the top military and intelligence leadership is claiming of the involvement of a foreign hand, then why has the Prime Minister remained silent up to now?”