Judicial body seeks short-term plan to resolve water, sanitation issues

The judicial commission investigating non-provision of potable water, proper sanitation facilities and healthy environment to Sindh’s people has directed the chief secretary to submit the government’s consolidated plan reflecting short-term measures for improving water and sanitation conditions in the province.

The commission headed by Justice (retd) Amir Hani Muslim asked the provincial advocate general on Saturday how the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board was operating in the province in the face of the court’s orders.

The judicial body also expressed dissatisfaction over the progress concerning reverse-osmosis (RO) plants and asked the Sindh advocate general why the court’s directions with regard to RO plants were not implemented.

Petitioner Shahab Usto said that there were 2,300 water schemes across the province and out of those, 953 projects were not functional, claiming that if they were made functional, 70 per cent of the water supply problems could be resolved.

The commission took an exception to the performance of the Public Health Engineering Department and asked the department’s secretary why 25 completed water supply projects could not be made functional in the province.

The public health engineering secretary said 800 projects were not functional across the province. The commission observed that the Sindh government was willing to release funds for water and sanitation projects, but the real problem was their sincere implementation.

The judicial body also observed that funds were not properly utilised for the projects in a timely manner and the resulting projects remained non-functional even after the passage of several years.

Health Secretary Fazlullah Pechuho said the incinerator of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre had been made functional, but the disposal of the hospital’s waste was the responsibility of the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board.

The commission directed the health secretary to ensure that incinerators and other medical equipments were made functional at all the government hospitals across the province.

The judicial body observed that the Supreme Court had issued a direction with regard to the solid waste management board and that no restraining order was issued by the court over the review petitions of the government.

The commission directed the chief secretary to issue a notification with regard to dissolution of the solid waste management board in accordance with the court’s orders.

On the subject of non-functional sewerage plants, Justice (retd) Muslim observed that he would personally visit the treatment plants of Karachi, warning that the matter could be referred to the investigation agencies if funds allocated for the plants were misused.

The commission directed the chief secretary to submit the details of the water and sanitation projects of the public health engineering department as well as those of the Karachi Water & Sewerage Board.

The judicial body adjourned the matter until January 25, and observed that the commission would visit different projects across the province in the meantime. Later in the day, Justice (retd) Muslim visited the treatment plants in Mauripur and SITE Area.