KWSB’s rehabilitation plan for filter, sewage treatment plants ‘eyewash’

The Karachi Water & Sewerage Board’s (KWSB) plan for rehabilitation of sewage treatment and water filter plants has been termed “eyewash” by the judicial commission investigating non-provision of potable water, proper sanitation facilities and healthy environment to Sindh’s people.

On Wednesday the commission headed by Justice (retd) Amir Hani Muslim expressed displeasure over the working of the water board and observed that the water filter plants were non-functional since a year.

The judicial body observed that the treatment plants in the SITE and Mauripur areas were not rehabilitated and no action was taken by the managing director of the KWSB against the people responsible for non-compliance of the court’s and the commission’s directives.

The commission took an exception to non-submission of breakup and required timeline for the components to be installed at the treatment plants in the SITE and Mauripur areas, observing that the proposed plan required the breakup of the components with timeline.

The judicial body also observed that the secretary of the Public Health Engineering Department had failed to submit any work plan, and gave the planning & development chairman two days to file the proposal for completing water and sewerage schemes.

The commission observed that if the requisite directions were not complied with, the matter could be referred to the Supreme Court for taking appropriate action against the officials responsible for wilful defiance of the judicial body’s orders and causing delays in achieving the targets.

The commission asked the local government secretary why garbage was not being lifted in various parts of the city. The secretary claimed that garbage was being lifted on a daily basis, but municipal administrations were dumping it in other municipal jurisdictions.

The judicial body visited different areas along the Lyari River where industrial effluent was being discharged without treatment. The commission directed the west district & sessions judge to depute a judicial magistrate to visit the site along with a senior officer of the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency and SITE Area.

The judicial body said the team should report on the existence, or lack thereof, of any pre-treatment plants or septic tanks and if they were functional at the industries producing toxic waste that was being discharged into the sea through the Malir River.

The judicial body also inspected the civil and services hospitals of Karachi and observed that the health facilities were in a pathetic condition. The commission observed that no plausible explanation had been offered by the additional health secretary over unhygienic conditions prevalent at the hospitals.