KARACHI: The issue of water scarcity in Karachi attracted the attention of the Sindh Assembly on Tuesday when an adjournment motion of Muttahida Qaumi Movement Mohammad Hussain was admitted and Friday was fixed for discussion on it.

About the reason of water shortage and the measures being taken to improve the situation, Sindh Local Government Minister Sharjeel Memon said the Hub dam that used to supply 100 million gallon of water a day had already dried for want of rains, while the city was getting only 550mgd water from the Dhabeji source. The water requirement of Karachi was 1,000mgd, indicating a shortage of 450mgd water, he said.

“We are quite conscious of the difficulties being faced by people of Karachi and emergency steps were being taken to increase water supply as work is on for enhancing the capacity of water source at the Dhabeji source by 65mgd. In addition, repair and maintenance work on the old water plants is being carried out on a war footing.” He said he ordered the water board authorities to carry out repair work immediately on two water pumps without going for the tenders procedure because the first priority was to provide water to the people of Karachi.

Also read: Criticised by tanker operators, KWSB makes little effort to end water crisis

Referring to water hydrant and tankers mafia, the minister said a cell had been set up to deal with complaints against overcharging by water tankers. He appealed to the people to get a receipt of what they paid to the water tankers operators. He asked the people to demand a receipt that had tanker number mentioned on it so that due action could be taken against the operators if they had been involved in fleecing consumers.

He said that MQM lawmakers had expressed their desire to visit the pumping stations along with water board officials. Welcoming this gesture, he said that he had instructed the water board authorities to accompany them during their visit. He appealed to all Karachiites to cooperate with the government to resolve the issue.

The minister was, however, critical of the recent press conference addressed by MQM leader Dr Farooq Sattar on the water issue in which some remarks were passed against him. He said Dr Sattar had blamed him for the water crisis in Karachi. He said the MQM leader said about him that he was involved in cheap actions. Mr Memon said he wanted to ask Dr Sattar if his action to remove ghost employees and demolish illegal wedding halls was a cheap action or the construction of illegal wedding halls on the public parks was cheap action.

He claimed that he had constituted an all-powerful committee comprising representatives of all political parties, chamber of commerce and industries, Karachi press club to oversee the distribution of water. The minister said he had authorized the commissioner-led committee that if any official of the water board had been found to be guilty of misconduct, he should be fired. He asked the speaker to set up a house committee to pinpoint where he had made mistake. The committee had held its three meetings but none of the MQM representatives attended the meetings. Besides, the minister said, another committee being headed by the commissioner had been formed for just distribution of water which was receiving complaints round the clock.

The minister said the water issue in Karachi was very old and said he wanted to ask why steps had not been taken to enhance water supply in Karachi. There were over 100 illegal water hydrants which were demolished with the help of the Rangers and other law-enforcement agencies, he said.

MQM lawmakers recorded their protest for mentioning the name of Dr Farooq Sattar repeatedly. Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly Khwaja Izhar-ul-Hassan said that as per a ruling of the speaker, there should be no criticism against any person who was not present in the house to defend themselves. The minister said it was Dr Sattar who had first said about him that “Main ne tuchchi harkat ki hai”. It was then the minister’s privilege that he should clarify the allegations at any forum, Mr Memon said. The MQM lawmakers should explain the meaning of this phrase if they found one in an Urdu dictionary, he remarked.

On the issue of water crisis, Mr Hassan said the MQM could not attend the meeting of the water committee as the party had been informed at the 11th hour. “We were informed about convening of its first meeting by the local bodies secretary only an hour before it was actually held. For the second meeting, they were told just two and a half hours before it was conducted. However, we were going to meet the committee on missing persons.” Responding to the statement of the leader of the opposition, the minister said when the local bodies secretary had requested the MQM to attend the first meeting, the party asked why they should attend the meeting on the information of the secretary. When the minister said he informed them about the second meeting, Mr Hassan told him that they would not like to attend the meeting with representatives of other parties. But the leader of the opposition had changed his statement on the floor of the house, Mr Memon said.

Earlier, the issue about tabling the resolution against MQM chief Altaf Hussain echoed in the assembly when the lawmakers belonging to PML-F led by Shaheryar Khan Mahar and Senior Minister Nisar Ahmad Khuhro hurled accusations against each other.

Mr Mahar asked the speaker to give his ruling on their resolution about the MQM chief whether he would take it up or not. The reply from the chair was that according to the rules a seven-day notice was required for taking up any resolution. The speaker said he would consider the resolution on its turn and advised the PML-F lawmaker to take his seat. He said he could not be dictated to take up the resolution immediately.

Speaking on his point of order, Mr Khuhro said the allegations of PML-F, PML-N and PTI for not allowing them to table the resolution against Altaf Hussain was baseless as the speaker had told them that he would consider their resolution after the house business but some people interested in point-scoring over the resolution started agitation. If they were so keen to move the resolution, why they did not submit it to the assembly secretariat, said the senior minister, adding that they could not hoodwink the people on the issue.

On these remarks of the minister, PML-F and PML-N lawmakers rising from the opposition benches started raising slogans. There was din as Mr Khuhro continued to speak. He was heard saying that the PML-F was in the opposition in Sindh, while the party was with the PML-N government in the centre.

On his point of order, Mr Hassan said the power issues were emerging again in the city as there was no one to represent Sindh in the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) after the retirement of Habibullah Khilji. He asked the government to nominate its representative at the earliest.

Finance Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah informed the house that the Sindh government had already nominated its member for Nepra but awaiting its notification.

Mr Hasan also talked about the cricket matches being hosted by Pakistan. He said that the Zimbabwe circket team would play matches in Pakistan. Karachi should also be allowed to host the matches, he said, adding that the law and order had improved in the city and it would improve further.

Sindh Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Mandhro opposed the privilege motion of PTI lawmaker Khurram Sherzaman against the attitude of the KMC director general for technical services and parks, Niaz Soomro, on technical grounds after which it was ruled out of order by the chair.

The house, which was called to order at 11.15am by Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani as a private members’ day, was adjourned at 2.15pm to reassemble on Friday at 10am.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2015

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