16 October 2004	Saturday	01 Ramazan 1425

KARACHI, Oct 15: Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad has stressed that the civic agencies should frequently interact with MNAs, MPAs, town nazims and other elected representatives of public to keep the masses informed about problems being faced in supply of water and electricity.

He said that the elected representatives of people should be armed with correct information, as they have to play an important role in containing the situation in the face of bruised feelings of people for want of water supply on rotation due to power breakdowns.

Dr Ibad was speaking at a meeting in which he was given briefing by EDO Water and Sanitation Brig Iftikhar Haider and KESC Managing Director Brig Tariq Saddozai at the Governor's House on Friday. Federal and provincial ministers, advisers, MNAs, MPAs, City Nazim, DCO, Town Nazims and secretaries of the departments concerned also attended the meeting.

Besides, Federal Minister Safwanullah Khan and others who put probing and pertinent questions to the EDO about performance of the department were ministers Shoaib Bokhari, Saeeda Malik, Qamar Mansoor, advisers M.A. Jalil and Waseem Akhtar.

They asked the reasons of delay in recovery of piled up dues from the government and commercial institutions, besides the measures being taken to mitigate water shortage problems due to power breakdowns.

As a step to meet the shortage of water, it was suggested that use of subsoil water for toilet purposes should be made obligatory in all new housing projects as was being practised in many other countries. It was further suggested that potable water should only be used for drinking and kitchen purposes.

Another proposal advanced on the occasion was to benefit from the services of union council nazims for expediting recoveries and for the upkeep of proper sanitation.

Brig Haider highlighted various achievements of water and sanitation department, including installation of two power generation units for ensuring uninterrupted water supply. Difficulties being faced by the department on various accounts were also highlighted.

He pointed out that there was a shortage of 60 graduate engineers for improving the performance and asked the government to relax the rules to recruit more engineers.

Dr Ibad said that the population of mega city had increased out of proportion, but, it was still not unmanageable. "If we all work with dedication, the issues could be resolved," he added.

He said that concrete proposals should be made keeping in view the demand and availability of water, its 30 per cent leakages, illegal water hydrants and other sewerage issues.

Advising the KWSB to check encroachment and utilize its land properly, he pointed out that no institution could run for long on subsidies and should work out to identify self-sustaining ways by over coming its lapses.

He said if leakages and illegal hydrants were allowed to continue the city would keep facing water shortage even after completion of K-III project. He also called upon the concerned functionaries to settle the outstanding dues against the government.