KARACHI: Sindh Minister for Information, Local Government, Housing & Town Planning, Forest and Wildlife Syed Nasir Hussain Shah has said that the water mafia operating in district West of Karachi would be brought to book with the help of Rangers and police. The minister said soon an operation in this regard would be initiated.

He said this while presiding over a meeting of elected members of the provincial assembly and relevant officers of district West on Sunday.

Those who attended the meeting included MNAs Abdul Qadir Patel, Shahida Rehmani, MPAs Liaquat Ali Askani, Naaz Baloch, special coordinator to the Chief Minister of Sindh Rashid Rabbani, Waqar Mehdi, former MPAs, Nadeem Bhutto, Humayun Khan, secretary of Local Government Roshan Ali Shaikh, managing director of Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, director general of Karachi Development Authority and municipal commissioner of Karachi Municipal Corporation.

The meeting participants reviewed the ongoing development projects in district West.

The minister said that all problems related to water supply and leakage of sewerage lines would be resolved on priority basis.

He directed the officers to make functional the Mianwali Pumping Station located in district West within a month to provide relief to residents of the area.

The minister said he wanted the closure of all illegal water hydrants functional in the district.

He asked the officers to take severe action against all those operating these illegal water hydrants. Syed Nasir Hussain Shah also ordered that the RO plants installed in Lyari Park were also made functional swiftly.

The meeting participants decided that the supply of water through Hub Dam, which was currently at 40 million gallons per day (MGD), be made to its full capacity, that is of 100MGD, to help resolve the woes of the people living in district West.

Syed Nasir Hussain Shah said that chairman of Pakistan Peoples’ Party Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had clearly instructed all elected members of the party to serve the people of the province without taking into consideration that they voted for the party or not.

He directed the officers of the water board to stop the practice of blocking the supply of water to the areas which were getting sufficient amount of water just to provide water to other areas. He said that instead of this practice the water to the areas which were facing scarcity of water should be provided with some other sources.

The meeting also approved the proposal regarding up-gradation of Hub pumping station.

Urban forestry project

Syed Nasir Hussain Shah also presided over a meeting regarding the urban forestry project. He said the urban forestry project on both sides of Lyari riverbed was one of the priorities of the Sindh government.

The agenda of the meeting included project of urban forestry and rehabilitation of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Park.

The minister said that both of these projects would be completed as early as possible. He said that the urban forestry project would be extended.

The minister said that the RO Plant of the park should be made functional immediately.

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2020