Government hand in gloves with water tanker mafia: JI

As part of its ‘Karachi Rights Movement’, the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi chapter on Friday organised a major demonstration by staging a sit-in outside the office of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) on Sharea Faisal to protest against the issue of water shortage in the metropolis.

He warned that if the shortage of water persisted, the party would intensify its protest campaign. A large number of party activists and perturbed residents of the city’s neighbourhoods attended the sit-in to record their protest against one of the most pressing issues of the megalopolis.

JI Karachi Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rahman led the protest and said the KWSB was a government institution responsible for water distribution across Karachi but the residents of the city were not getting water in the right way.

He condemned the Sindh government and relevant officials for corruption and inability to resolve the issues. “The PPP [Pakistan Peoples Party has been in power for 14 years but to date, the K-IV water project has not been completed.”

He added that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif came to Karachi on Friday, made some announcements, and left. Government officials had already claimed that 174 million gallons of water per day was accounted for leakage, Rehman said and alleged that this statement about leakage was actually an effort to cover up the siphoning of almost 40 per cent of the water supply to the tanker mafia.

He remarked that the KWSB separately handled network of water supply through tankers. The JI Karachi chief accused the government of being hand in gloves with the water tanker mafia. Criticising various political stakeholders of the city, he said the mandate of Karachi was sold out in a shameless manner by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan.

Regarding the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, he said President Arif Alvi made towering claims in 2018 about ending the water crisis in Karachi but then regime did nothing to resolve the burning issue. “Similar claims were made by the PPP government in Sindh but no solid measure has been taken on the ground to resolve the issue.”

He said the last water supply project for Karachi was completed in 2005 by then JI-backed mayor Niamatullah Khan and since then, not even a single gallon of water supply was increased to the quota for the metrppolis in the span of over 17 years.

The water that should be supplied to Karachiites through pipelines is offered to people through water tankers and that too against hefty amounts, he lamented. Other speakers at the protest demonstration said corruption in the KWSB had reached to the lowest ranks. Residents from the city’s various localities also shared their respective ordeals.