KARACHI, Feb 29: The city government’s much-awaited plan of ‘one hydrant for one town’ is likely to be implemented soon as the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board finalises its strategy of taking back the control of all its nine hydrants from the Rangers within a week following the Sindh government’s recent notification, well-placed sources said.

Referring to the Sindh government’s notification (No SOVII/KW&SB/2-6/2007 dated 27th Feb, 2008) issued to the KWSB managing director, the sources said that the water utility had been asked to get back the possession of the city’s water tanker service from the Pakistan Rangers. The Sindh government had asked the water utility to complete the entire process within a week, sources said.

However, KWSB officials were non-committal when they were asked whether the water utility would fulfil its promise about the closure of hydrants located in residential localities after taking over their control.

The hydrants in Muslimabad, Federal B’ Area and Sakhi Hassan have become a permanent source of nuisance for the area residents. Frequent shuttling of tankers between the hydrants and their destinations has already ruined a number of streets and peripheral roads, besides causing accidents and intruding on the privacy of people living in and around these hydrants.

Sources said that all such hydrants, the control of which would be handed over by the Rangers to the town municipal administration concerned, would continue to operate at the same place at least for the time being. However, after some time the hydrants in residential localities might be shifted to the outskirts of the towns concerned to avoid roads’ destruction, accidents and inconvenience caused to the area residents.

After taking over their control from the Rangers, the affairs of these hydrants would initially be run by both the KWSB and the town municipal administrations concerned. Sources said that the water board would later hand over the control of each hydrant to the town in which it existed. Town administration would then be responsible to ensure that tankers drawing water from their hydrant must provide water to the water-deficit pockets and residents of the town concerned.

The KWSB hydrants were handed over to the Rangers in 1999 as part of a water crisis management programme when Hub dam had dried up. As a result, the sprawling townships of Orangi, Baldia and Surjani were facing a severe water crisis. Since then, these hydrants had been operated by the Rangers.