KARACHI: Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on Saturday repeated his stance that the teeming provincial capital needed 1,200 cusecs additional water for the K-IV project and vowed to persuade a meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI), scheduled to be held in Islamabad on Monday, to approve the Sindh government’s request.

Mr Shah said this while presiding over a meeting at the CM House to review the agenda of the CCI meeting and his government’s plans to place before the forum.

The meeting was attended by Energy Minister Imtiaz Shaikh, CM’s Adviser on Law and Information Murtaza Wahab, principal secretary to CM Sohail Rajput, law secretary Raheem Soomro and other senior officials.

CM Shah said Karachi, where people from across the country resided, was facing an acute water shortage. He said the current domestic consumption which currently stood at 12.75 gallons per capita per day was anticipated to drop further in coming years mainly because of a high population growth.

He added that keeping in view the present demand and future strategy the KWSB had worked out an additional demand of 1,200 to 2,400 cusecs.

Mr Shah had earlier said the irrigation department had approached the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) twice to allocate 1,200 cusecs additional drinking water for Karachi in addition to the provision of the Water Accord 1991.

The meeting was told that according to Irsa, any additional requirement of water supply to Karachi had to be met by Sindh out of its existing allocated share as no water outside the accord was available for further distribution.

Irsa has already stated that no extra water is available for distribution

The chief minister said that before the water accord of 1991, 1,200 cusecs of water was sanctioned for Karachi on Aug 10, 1988 by the president. He added that 1,200 cusecs water had been included in the allocation of Sindh mentioned at Para-2 of the Water Accord 1991, but an additional requirement of 1,200 cusecs water for the city had not been included in the share of the province.

Law and order

At an earlier meeting, Murad Ali Shah said well-coordinated efforts of law enforcement agencies (LEAs) made Ashura proceedings peaceful and appreciated the performance of police, Rangers and intelligence agencies.

Among others, the meeting was attended by CM’s Adviser Murtaza Wahab and Sindh IGP Kaleem Imam.

Mr Shah said his efforts to make police more professional and public-friendly would continue by offering training programmes.

“The capacity building of Karachi police is in progress and now time has come to change police uniform,” he said, adding: “I am of the opinion that T-shirt may also be allowed to policemen so that they can perform their duty in sweltering weather comfortably.” The IGP Sindh said he would provide different samples of proposed uniforms to the chief minister for his guidance and approval.

Mr Shah said he had visited three divisions — Karachi, Sukkur and Larkana — to take an aerial view of Ashura processions and witnessed security arrangements.

“There was proper deployment of police and Rangers at majalis and mourning processions,” he said, adding that district administrations also worked hard in providing facilities on the routes of processions and at majalis.

“I am also thankful to all ulema for their support and cooperation in keeping the Ashura proceedings peaceful,” he said.

A provincial government spokesperson said that on Ashura, Chief Minister Shah wearing black shalwar kameez visited Saddar in Karachi to witness security arrangements made for the mourners. He walked from Empress Market to M.A. Jinnah Road and received the procession there and led it up to Empress Market. He also met procession organisers. Later, he flew to Sukkur to review security arrangements made in sensitive districts.

The chief minister with provincial minister Nasir Shah, and Murtaza Wahab took an aerial view of processions taken out in Shikarpur, Khanpur, Jacobabad, Rohri, Khairpur and Kotdiji.

In the evening Mr Shah returned to Karachi and took an aerial view of the main procession, which was culminating.

Parks, drains, Green Line

During his aerial visit, said the spokesperson, Mr Shah witnessed that some parks were in extremely bad shape, which included Jheel Park, Hill Park, parks in Nazimabad, North Nazimabad etc.

“He vowed to rehabilitate these parks by involving relevant local bodies and local communities,” said the spokesperson, quoting Mr Shah as saying: “Karachi needs more parks and massive tree plantation and we all — local bodies, civil society and NGOs — have to work collectively.”

Mr Shah also noticed that various storm-water drains were still filled with filth and garbage. He decided to talk to the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation and district municipal corporations to clean them completely.

The chief minister also took an aerial view of the BRT Green Line project infrastructure. “It is at the completion stage except a portion from Numaish towards M.A. Jinnah Road,” said the spokesperson.

Published in Dawn, September 23rd, 2018