KARACHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the provincial government to file a detailed report on supply of potable water and operation of illegal hydrants in the city.

A three-judge bench headed by Justice Amir Hani Muslim also directed the chief provincial law officer to place on record the details of the cases against the operators of illegal hydrants within a week.

The bench was conducting suo motu proceedings on failure of the Karachi Water Sewerage Board in ensuring smooth water supply to the city.

Justice Hani remarked that people of the entire city were left at the mercy of the KWSB ‘valve men’, who supplied water to the localities of their own choice. “The water utility patronizes the water tanker mafia”, he said.

Another bench member said that he grew up with the tap water, but now underprivileged people were also compelled to drink bottled water as the water utility had miserably failed to ensure smooth water supply.

He asked KWSB managing director Misbahuddin Farid, what was the mechanism of distribution of water in the city and why water meters were not installed at certain points.

The water utility chief, who also submitted a report on action against the operators of illegal hydrants, said that as many as 20 meters were installed, while 121 meters could not be installed due to non-availability of funds.

One of the bench members remarked that the shortage of potable water in the city was only due to mismanagement on the part of the water utility. “If the KWSB cannot run the affairs, it should give the contract to some private concern,” he further remarked.

Replying to a court query, Mr Farid said that there were over 10,000 water tankers and 13 legal hydrants in the city.

The bench observed that the number of hydrants must have been much more as such a small number of hydrants could not cater to thousands of water carriers.

The court remarked that the district judges would be assigned the task of inspecting hydrants.

The bench also warned the water utility chief that direct action would be taken in case the water utility report on illegal hydrants was found incorrect.

The KWSB chief said that positive results were achieved by taking action against illegal hydrants.

Manchhar Lake case

The same bench, meanwhile, issued a show-cause notice to the federal finance and planning secretaries for not providing funds for the project of Right Bank Outfall Drain (RBOD) one and three.

The bench was conducting the suo motu proceedings regarding contamination of the Manchhar Lake.

The chief secretary and the general manager of the project said that the treatment plant was being delayed due to non-availability of funds from the federal government.

The bench expressed extreme displeasure over the non-availability of funds and directed the two federal secretaries to appear in court on Sept 1 to explain as to why contempt proceedings might not be initiated against them for wilfully flouting the court orders regarding the treatment plant for the lake.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2016