Water politics

One of the main reasons for over 1,200 deaths in Karachi, beside the killer heatwave, was acute shortage of water, forcing people to buy tankers at exorbitant rates to meet their needs. The Karachi Water & Sewage Board (KWSB) claims that certain parts of old water pumps have broken down due to which less water is being pumped to the metropolis.
In reality, KWSB has many systems in place to ensure that spare parts are kept in storage all the time. Similarly, in today’s world, it is very easy to order parts from anywhere in the world within a week’s time but in KWSB’s case, it has failed to even try to order these parts in time. It has also failed to give any reason why such parts were not kept in its storage facility as well. The fact is that water scarcity is politically motivated. People are forced to spend their time looking for water rather than criticise the provincial government for bad governance.
Engr M Baseer Khan
Peshawar