KARACHI, Dec 18: The Nazim of Lyari Town, Malik Mohammad Fayyaz, has admitted that there is an acute water shortage in the town and the water supply position is not according to the town’s growing population. He said that though it was stated officially that 13 mgd was being supplied to the town, however, actually the town hardly received 8 mgd whereas the supply should have been between 40 and 45 mgd.
Except for lip services and paper work, Fayyaz said no practical steps had been taken so fare to solve the chronic water shortage problem despite the fact that the matter had always been brought to the notice of all concerned authorities.
He said, “We are now being told that the situation will improve after the implementation of the KT-1 and that there would be an additional 10 pc increase in the town’s water supply position.”
But he went on to say that work on laying a separate water line was yet to be carried out and that it might take at least a year and a half.
Mr Fayyaz though stating that the proposed additional water supply line, likely to be connected with the COD, had been approved by the federal government; however, he said: “We are not being taken into confidence on this issue and there is not a single word in the media on the plan. This situation is troublesome for us.”
Yet, he maintained that the additional supply would meet the town’s water needs to a great extent, and hoped that the concerned authorities would honour their commitment in this regard.
Talking to Dawn, Malik Fayyaz conceded that shortage of potable water, poor communication and defective sewerage system were some of the major problems faced by people in Lyari, and these needed urgent attention.
“The responsibility for this state of affairs lies with government agencies and concerned departments, who have adopted an indifferent attitude to the town,” he said, adding “we have always adopted a positive attitude and tried to seek the cooperation of every one for the uplift of our locality.”
In this regard, he said, the city nazim had too been approached and was asked to visit the town, but regretted that there had been no response so far.
He conceded that hygienic conditions in the town were unsatisfactory because of unavailability of sanitary workers. The town has 850 non-Muslim sanitary workers while 274 are Muslims, he informed.
He also admitted that “most of them do not perform their duties”, and that a plan to check the menace of absenteeism was under consideration.
Under this plan, he said, the UC nazims would be held responsible for monitoring the work of sanitary staff in their respective areas.
But, he pointed out that the town had a limited budget, which could only meet the requirements of salary and fuel, adding that hardly any funds could be saved for development purposes.
He said the town was unable to generate revenue because all its commercial areas including markets had been cut off under the city’s new demarcation system. “Except trade licence fee, we have no other source of income, and that too get is obtained from the city government after deduction.”
In reply to a question, the nazim said he had asked the concerned departments to conduct a survey of CD plots. These plots were issued to factory owners for warehousing purposes, he said.
He said, “We do not need warehousing facility in residential areas as these have become a public nuisance.” These should be shifted as lease terms of these plots have expired, he said, adding that goods transport activities would come to an end after these warehousing facilities are closed down.
These plots could then be used for amenity purposes, he suggested. The matter of shifting transport business was under also consideration.
