KARACHI, May 15: The financially-starved KWSB in its drive against defaulters is nowadays busy in punishing and harassing even bill-paying consumers by disconnecting their water connections for no fault of theirs. Consumers living in apartments have expressed their indignation over the KWSB’s modus operandi of severing connections to huge buildings and depriving them of water in the hot and humid weather despite knowing that they had already cleared their water bills.

They argue that the water board doesn’t even bother to understand that such a coercive action would even deprive those of water against whom no charges are outstanding.

Owners of a large number of apartments want to know the justification behind the KWSB’s move of penalizing non-defaulters for the fault of those who owe money to the board. They have termed such a move ‘illegal’ and ‘immoral’

As a matter of fact the concern was resorting to such coercive measures merely to cover up for its own inefficiency of failing to evolve a method like the SSGC and KESC of disconnecting connections of only those who failed to clear their dues.

They also criticized the KWSB tax department for sending them excessive bills of water and sewerage for even the period when they had not taken over possession of their apartments.

“Whenever we approach the KWSB tax department to issue us bills from the period after which we took possession of our apartments, their officials refuse us. They say it is none of their business to pressurise

the builder for clearing water bills of the period before the possession of their flats,” said a resident of an apartment building in Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Block 13-D.

Another resident of the same building remarked: “Isn’t it unjust that the KWSB officials never bothers to recover water charges of the apartments as long as they remain with the builders. But, when these are handed to their allottees, the KWSB officials start pressuring them to clear water bills of even the period when they had no possession of their flats.”

The dwellers of buildings have demanded the City Nazim, Niamatullah Khan, who is also chairman of the KWSB, to intervene into the matter.

They also urged him to direct the water board officials to evolve a method whereby only defaulters could be punished.