KARACHI: The Supreme Court-mandated commission on water and sanitation in Sindh on Wednesday expressed its serious resentment over the “unfair” distribution of water in the provincial metropolis and summoned the Karachi commissioner to appear on Dec 12.

The commission, headed by retired Justice Amir Hani Muslim, directed the commissioner that during the intervening period he had to hold a meeting with all stakeholders, collect details of supply and distribution of water and come up with a detailed report and suggestions to improve the distribution system.

It came down hard on the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) for showing little interest in installing and maintaining flow meters and not providing details about the distribution of water in the city.

The commission also directed the secretary for local government and the managing director of the KWSB to be in attendance on Dec 12.

‘The public of Karachi is suffering because of inaction of the water board’

Justice Muslim said that details about water supply to Central district were sought from the KWSB’s deputy managing director, but he filed a report which did not contain the required details. He directed the official to provide details to the chief engineer of the wing who will sit with the deputy commissioner Central and the DMC chairman to collect required details and the DC will submit a comprehensive report by Dec 12.

Meters out of order

The commission deplored that of the 2,600 flow meters, installed on the intervention of the Supreme Court, 1,200 were out of order and the KWSB was unable to offer any plausible explanation for that.

The KWSB informed the commission that an official, looking after the meter section, had retired and a new officer had assumed the job.

However, the commission rejected the explanation and said it appeared that there was no accountability in the KWSB as despite repeated directives for the installation of flow meters in the city, it had been delaying the matter for the last several months. “The meters already installed have gone out of order and no step has been taken by the officials concerned [to fix them],” it said and issued a show-cause notice to the superintending engineer for the meter consumer cell and the executive engineer, directing them to explain why such meters had not been repaired or replaced and why the remaining meters were not being installed.

“It appears that the KWSB is less interested in installing the meters, which in turn is encouraging theft of water in Karachi as there is no other way by which the intake of water supply can be measured or gauged. The public of Karachi is suffering because of inaction/criminal negligence on the part of water board, which is prima facie not providing required details as to how much water it gets from the source, and how much water reaches the end user in Karachi. There appears to be unfair distribution of water within Karachi which has multiplied the agony of the residents of Karachi,” it added.

Notice to TDAP chairman

The commission issued a notice to the chairman of the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan, directing him to submit a report containing the names of importers of a factory situated in the Bin Qasim industrial zone.

It said that despite repeated directives by the commission, the firm was discharging untreated effluent.

The commission said that on Nov 23 the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency, through a report, said that the firm was discharging untreated effluent in violation of the Sepa rules. Thereafter, an official of the Pakistan Council for Research in Water Resources was asked to verify the same and his report said that the treatment plant installed could not treat the required effluent as it was under capacity.

The commission adjourned the matter till Dec 1 and sought a report from Sepa with the assistance of the Port Qasim Authority.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2018