SBCA told to explain why NOCs issued sans KWSB on board

Judicial body also allows additional chief secretary two days to devise plan to address water issues

A judicial commission has directed the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) to explain why no-objection certificates (NOCs) were issued for erecting high-rises in Karachi without taking the water utility on board.

Karachi Water & Sewerage Board (KWSB) chief Misbahuddin Farid told the judicial body probing non-provision of potable water, sanitation and healthy environment to the people of the province that the SBCA was illegally permitting construction of multi-storeyed buildings without consulting with the KWSB so that water and sanitation issues could be addressed beforehand.

Farid said that due to the mushroom growth of high-rises water and sanitation issues were exacerbating, and if the practice continued the problem would become completely unmanageable. Additional Chief Secretary Mohammad Waseem told the commission, headed by Justice Mohammad Iqbal Kalhoro, that he would convene a meeting of all the relevant secretaries to devise a plan to address the issue and submit a report in two days.

The judicial body also gave the secretary of the Special Initiatives Department two days to submit a detailed five-year report on installation, cost and expenditure of reverse osmosis plants operating across the province as well as their maintenance expenses.

Additional Health Secretary Jamaluddin sought a week to file a detailed statement on water supply schemes at public hospitals and management of waste at the health facilities across the province as well as the amount spent by these hospitals in the last five years to manage their waste. The commission asked him to find out if Hospital Waste Management Rules 2014 were being implemented in letter and spirit by public and private hospitals.

The judicial body asked Irrigation Secretary Ahmed Junaid Memon why municipal waste as well as hospital and industrial effluent were being poured into irrigation canals that were under his authority. Memon said his department was working to address these issues but so far they had failed to achieve any positive results. He requested a week to submit a plan with a timeline to address the issue.

The commission was told that the industries secretary was looking into the issue of the Sindh Industrial & Trading Estate and that his statement on functionality of the combined treatment plant installed by the government at various locations would be relevant to the issue of industrial effluent. The body issued a notice to the secretary for his appearance.

Pakistan Tanners Association Senior Vice-Chairman Aziz Ahmed told the commission that all the wastewater was taken to the combined effluent treatment plant in Korangi and then was discharged into the drain, from where it ended up in the sea.

Petitioner Shahab Usto told the judicial body that according to his information, the treatment plant was not operating. The commission directed the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency to submit a report on it.

The body also gave Additional Attorney General Salman Talibuddin three days to submit a report on waste management of hospitals working under the federal government. Regarding the issue of overstaffing impeding management of solid and liquid waste, the local government secretary told the commission that he would file comments within a week.

Representatives of textile mills associations and pharmaceutical companies also sought time to file their replies on disposal of effluent generated by textile mills and pharmaceutical firms.

When the judicial body was informed that the issue of industrial effluent also concerned the textile processing industry, it issued a notice to the chairman of the All Pakistan Textile Processing Mills Association to file comments.

The commission also directed district & sessions judges of the province to collect data and details from the heads of government departments and agencies on potable water supply, sanitation and other relevant schemes claimed to have been initiated in their respective districts within the last five years.

The body said the report should be submitted within 10 days and must include details of the projects, names of the officers who supervised the schemes, the amount spent and the results achieved in terms of relief to the people as well as the present status of the schemes.