KARACHI, April 29: The Karachi Water and Sewerage Board in the second phase of its drive against the illegal hydrants in the city on Saturday removed connections of 21 more illegal hydrants and demolished their constructions.
The operation was carried out in the supervision of KWSB Managing Director Brig Iftikhar Haider in the presence of a large number of police and Rangers personnel.
The drive against the illegal hydrants was initiated on the instructions of City Nazim Mustafa Kamal and till now connections of 31 illegal hydrants had been cut and FIRs had been lodged against 22 accused in Sohrab Goth police station. Nine accused were also arrested.
It is hoped that the closure of illegal hydrants would improve water supply position in Buffer Zone, North Karachi, Surjani, Mianwali Colony, Gulshan-i-Maymar, Scheme 33, Ahsanabad and adjoining localities. These illegal hydrants were drawing water from a 54-inch diameter water pipeline.
KWSB MD Brig Iftikhar Haider said that the illegal hydrants set up at Lassi Goth, Ayub Goth, Wazeer Goth and Sindh Cooperative Society had been razed. He said that these illegal hydrants had been run by Haji Sultan who was arrested along with his two sons. He said that one of the sons of Haji Sultan had got a fake identity card of a police officer to scare the people. These hydrants used to supply water to 150 to 200 tanker-trucks daily.
The KWSB MD said that three police officers had also set up illegal hydrants in the area and FIR was lodged in this regard.
The KWSB staff recovered three large water sucking motors, five small motors, three large diesel pumps, two small pumps, suction pipes from these illegal hydrants and deposited the same with the police station.
Col Rafaqat of Pakistan Rangers, KWSB engineers Najam Alam, Ashraf Siddiqui, Azharuddin and Tahir Ali were also present during the operation.
water project: City Nazim Mustafa Kamal has said that Karachi is highly attractive for foreign investors and, therefore, equally important for marketing.
For this purpose, he said, the city government was pursuing the policy of attracting investment in the city which was not only the revenue engine of Pakistan but also regional business hub.
He stated this following a briefing given by Ms Lin, Mobile Cub Cooperation of Switzerland regarding supply of clean drinking water and keeping it germs free. KWSB Managing Director Brig Iftekhar Hyder was also present on the occasion.
The nazim said that he believed in practical action and sought demonstration of the device developed by the Swiss experts.
He said that low-cost facility for keeping drinking water germs free through the device would be welcomed. He said that if the Swiss company wanted to install a desalination plant, its demonstration should be given at the site along with details of feasibility to ensure its credibility and consider the appropriateness of the company.
Mr Kamal was informed that the device developed by their company could be installed in residential units for water filtration at a low cost.
Land revenue: The land revenue and estate committee of city government on Saturday asked officials concerned to give recommendations for increase in revenue so that efforts to provide facilities to citizens could bear fruits.
Chairing a meeting of senior officials of city government’s revenue department, the committee’s chairman Syed Moin warned that negligence and delay in revenue collection would not be tolerated.
He instructed the officials to adopt such a method that revenue collection process should take minimum time. He stressed upon public dealing departments to ensure maximum relief to citizens.
Earlier, EDO Revenue Saleh Faruqi gave details of performance of land estate and revenue departments.—PPI/APP
