KARACHI, Oct 4: The process of the transfer of nine Rangers-controlled hydrants to the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) has not yet been completed although two earlier deadlines have already passed.
The KWSB had fixed June 18 and then July 1 for the takeover of the hydrants as part of its plan to make every hydrant a town-specific facility. Under the plan, every town had to be given control of the hydrants falling in its jurisdiction.
However, the KWSB failed to take control of these hydrants partly because of the inordinate delay in setting up of hydrants/filling points for certain towns and partly due to the Rangers’ reservations over the deployment of water tankers to block some sections of Sharea Faisal on May 12. The deployment was reportedly carried out under the instructions of the KWSB administration to help the city government maintain law and order following the arrival of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry in the city that day.
Rangers’ services
All the nine hydrants, originally belonging to the KWSB, had been given under the control of the Rangers in 1999 to overcome the water crisis prevailing in the city. The crisis was created by years of low rainfall in Sindh. The Hub dam, supplying 100 million gallons a day to the city, had also gone dry.After operating the lucrative business for almost seven years, the Rangers agreed to hand over the hydrants to the KWSB. Shortly afterwards, the Rangers had asked the KWSB to complete the process of transfer by December 2006 or January 2007. However, the KWSB could not take over the facilities for certain reasons. The following two deadlines of June 18 and July 1, though fixed through mutual understanding, also passed without any headway in the process. It was reported that the administrations of some towns intended to make arrangements to install their own hydrants but could not accomplish the task. The situation has still remained unchanged.
Sources in the KWSB told Dawn that the city government was now reluctant to take a firm decision vis-à-vis the hydrants’ take-over from the Rangers. They attributed the delay in the completion of the process to the city government’s indecision.
However, a spokesman for the Rangers, Major Asad, told Dawn that the Rangers were ready to hand over the hydrants but the KWSB appeared not in a position to operate them. “The installations were supposed to be transferred by July 1 but the KWSB officials informed us that they could not take over them as the required infrastructure was not yet ready. They had asked for another 15 days for the transfer,” he said.
“Perhaps they are still not in a position to take over the hydrants,” he said.
CDGK’s aim
The city government’s plan to get the hydrants transferred from Rangers to the KWSB was aimed at ensuring availability of at least one hydrant to each town. The sources said the plan also provided a system to ensure a reduction in the number of tankers shuttling from one locality to the other to supply water to households. The city government wanted to restrict the movement of the tankers to the town it belonged to. For the purpose, it was to allot specific colours to the water tankers so that they could be identified in case of a violation of the jurisdiction.
At present, there are more than 20,000 tankers involved in the transportation of water and there is no restriction on their movement between towns.
Extensive damage to roads and accidents are often attributed to the condition and speed of these tankers during the operation.
