KARACHI: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) MNA from NA-247 Aftab Siddiqui on Friday led a peaceful protest rally of the residents of his constituency outside the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) head office against water shortage in his constituency and demanded a third-party audit of the water board.

Addressing participants of the rally, he demanded of the federal government to intervene in the affairs of Sindh as the provincial government was taking “undue advantage” of the 18th Amendment.

Referring to Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani’s point of view that there was no immediate solution to the water crisis in Karachi, Mr Siddiqui asked the minister if he was only elected nine months ago. He pointed out that Saeed Ghani’s government had been in power for over 11 years in Sindh and demanded that he ought to resign.

The PTI leader said that today’s protest was only a “trailer” and the full film regarding shortage of water in the constituency was yet to be screened. He recalled that Hub Dam was filled to capacity, but its distribution was not just as no one was aware where its water was being used.

He said that under a 1998 agreement, the water board was supposed to supply nine million gallons of water to the constituency, but only three million gallons was being supplied to the locality.

He said this was only a peaceful demonstration but if they failed to understand this time, next time they would show them how a protest was staged.

Speaking on the occasion, PTI MPA Khurram Sherzaman said the citizens of Karachi were being “punished” under a calculated move and warned that if Karachi was not given its due rights, they would take the protest rally to the CM House.

The water board had become a den of corruption and nepotism and Karachi was being deprived of its due share of water forcibly, he said.

If the government took care of the water problem immediately, it would be better for it, he added.

Another MPA, Shahzad Qureshi, asked the Sindh government to stop fooling people. If the water issue was not resolved, the next target would be the offices of the local government minister and then the CM House, he warned.

Ramzan Ghanchi said that for the past 17 years, his locality (Lyari) was facing water problem where water was supplied from tankers, but not through pipelines.

Published in Dawn, June 15th, 2019