KARACHI, Nov 7: When the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) discontinued water supply to its 200 bulk consumers recently, the civilian population under the Korangi Creek Cantonment Board was probably the worst sufferer. There was little water in the lines and the residents dependent on supplies through tankers were getting nothing as tankers had no water to fill and supply. Naturally, the residents regularly paying their taxes bemoaned that they were being punished for no fault of theirs. And this was not for the first time they were deprived of the scant water supply they normally get.

Some of the bulk consumers owe the KWSB billions of rupees. The KCCB chief executive officer (CO), Irfan Asghar, says his institution owes the water board only Rs19.2 million. “We pay them Rs150,000 to Rs200,000 every month as we receive from our consumers in water charges.”

He laments that an amount of Rs70 million released by the federal government for the KCCB has remained stuck in the Sindh government’s finance department for several years. The government’s denial of the payment, which is in lieu of the octroi tax the cantonment had been receiving till 1999, has severely affected the KCCB’s ability to carry out development works.

The problem-ridden Bhitai Colony falling in the KCCB jurisdiction has encroachments as its major problem. The bus stop along the ground for weekly bazaars has been encroached upon by cab drivers, eateries and fruit and juice vendors. There is hardly space for women and children to squeeze through to catch their buses. People allege that KCCB people are making money at the cost of people’s suffering.

Admitting that the water supply is the number problem of the KCCB’s civilian population, the CO says a four-inch diameter line had already been sanctioned for Bhitai Colony. But the KWSB demands a huge initial payment of Rs25 million, which the board is too poor to pay. “We do not link this payment to our stuck cheque. We just ask them to allow us to pay this amount in easy instalments.”

About the uplift work being carried out in the cantonment board area, he says his staff had collected about Rs42.5 million from the industrial units in its jurisdiction. “We have already spent Rs30 million on the sewerage and roads. But now people say water is their first priority, not sewerage.”

Syed Sajjad Shah Bokhari, the councillor and vice-president of the KCCB, says there are 113 improvement projects in line besides the sewerage project. He suggests that since the majority of the tax defaulters are the consumers who get water through the supply lines, all consumers should be supplied water through tankers.

The population under the KCCB has grown manifold but the quantum of water has remained static since 1982.

The KCCB jurisdiction begins at the eastern embankment of the Malir river on the right of the main Korangi Road and extends to the PAF Korangi base. But parts of the four-kilometre stretch, such as the Grey Riverside Apartments and Altaf Town, do not fall under its tax net. Besides, it covers the off-coast industrial units such as Pakistan Refinery and Fongas company.