Karachi: Mayor Karachi, Chairman Water Corporation Murtaza Wahab said that actions against water thieves were going on indiscriminately across city. I pay tribute to Pakistan Rangers, law enforcement agencies, Sindh Police and Water Corporation administration in this regard.

Despite water shortfall, they are distributing water is available and there will be no compromise with water thieves on citizens’ right.

Action against illegal hydrants across city will to continue and illegal connections will be disconnected, and plan has been prepared to solve waste issue supply and drainage issues in city.

Talking to senior journalists, chief editors, editors, chief reporter and reporters at Chairman Secretariat Karsaz Water Corporation he said that there should be an effort to ensure equitable distribution of water and prevent theft. Citizens are willing to pay water bills.

He said water supply line from Hub Dam to Karachi is very old which was built in 1981. We are working on it.we will able to get 100 mgd of water in twenty months after which more water can be supplied to Karachi from this line.

Efforts will be made to increase water supply from Kenjhar Lake and Hub Dam, while work on K-4 project is being carried out and federal government is targeting to complete project in October 2024. I am not only depending on K-4 but working on Hub Dam. Previous federal government stopped work on K-4 and said that federation will work on K-4 now, but then only time was wasted from 2018 to 2023 which was biggest injustice to Karachi.

He said that it has been 85 days and work on road map that we had prepared is going on, we have tried diligently to provide immediate relief to citizens and in this context we have started action against water mafia, while 70 FIRs have been filed so far in various operations and 75 people have been arrested, an estimated 150 illegal hydrants are operating in city, with help of Pakistan Rangers, law enforcement agencies, Sindh Police and Water Corporation, operations were carried out in Janjal Goth, Manghopir, Teen Hatti and Mehmoodabad, this has improved water supply in Orangi Town, New Karachi, North Karachi, DHA, Lyari and Baldia, and an estimated 10 million gallons of water have been saved by these operations, he said.

He said that there are currently seven government hydrants running in city, income of which goes to Water Corporation, introducing metering system for water used at government hydrants, on which meters will be installed in few weeks.

He said that they are working on water projects in industrial areas as 120 MGD of water from industrial areas is going untreated into sea. They are starting project to treat 40 MGD of water by installing treatment plant, by which industries of Landhi and Korangi will be able to use this water. He said that Water Corporation has issued 32 subsoil licenses which provide water to industrial establishments, who has an income of Rs 50 million and we need cooperation of industrialists.

I asked industrialists how much water they use from Water Corporation and how much water they use from subsoil. He said that 52 billion rupees of Water Corporation is owed to various institutions. Water Corporation has liabilities of Rs 5 billion and monthly income of Corporation is Rs 1,200 million.

He visited Hydrants Management Centre Water Corporation along with senior journalists. CEO Water Corporation Syed Sallahuddin Ahmed informed about Centre. He said that 550 tankers have tracker systems and QR codes installed on tankers windscreens, QR code will allow public and law enforcement agencies to identify which hydrant tanker is registered to and what is its official rates, while illegal tankers will be easily identified by QR code, by which water theft can be controlled. Action has been taken against 87 water tankers who were running detaching trackers.  Deputy Mayor Karachi Salman Abdullah Murad, representative Mayor Karachi for Political Affairs Karamullah Waqasi, COO Water Corporation Asadullah Khan, Deen Muhammad Shar, Nadeem Kirmani, Elahi Bakhsh Bhutto and Syed Sardar were present.

Published in The Daily National Courier, September, 18 2023

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