HYDERABAD: Retired Justice Amir Hani Muslim, who is heading the one-man judicial commission appoin­ted by Supreme Court on water quality and drainage in Sindh, on Wednesday came down hard on Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (HMC) officers for their failure to take care of solid waste management and drainage issues in the city.

The former apex court judge paid a whirlwind visit to the city after holding a meeting with Sindh government officers at the judges’ lodge in Civil Lines. Chairman of a task force appointed by the apex court Jamal Mustafa Syed, commission’s registrar Ghulam Mustafa Channa, chief secretary’s focal person Dr Saeed Qureshi, Hyderabad Mayor Syed Tayyab Hussain, Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) managing director Masood Jumani, HMC’s municipal commissioner (MC) Shahid Ali accompanied him.

Mr Muslim stopped at the Qazi Abdul Qayyum Road and walked towards Hyder Chowk, SSP office and Deputy Commissioner House before proceeding towards Pucca Qilla. He admonished the MC as to why garbage remained at different spots. He stopped at Do Qabar at Qilla incline where a portion of road was blocked and proceeded to Guru Nagar chowk where a large number of residents surrounded him.

MC Shahid Ali admitted before the commission that “situation has improved since the commission started working. The city produces 1,200 tonnes of garbage and we can’t collect 100 per cent solid waste, but we are trying to improve the situation”.

Inhabitants of areas like Guru Nagar and Goods Naka made several complaints to the commission regarding the pathetic civic condition that made their routine life miserable.

They said the drain had become a solid waste dumping point.

Another shopkeeper approached the visiting commission’s head and said waste water from Pucca Qilla did not find its way into the drain and sewage accumulated on the Guru Nagar chowk. “We use rickshaw to cross the road. Area MNA Syed Wasim Hussain [who has recently quit his party, the MQM-P] converted a wastage dumping point on Guru Nagar incline into three shops,” he said.

“Where is the director health? Is he a top officer who takes time to turn up?” Mr Muslim angrily told the MC when he said director health Rafiq Rajput could respond to his question about sewage and solid waste. When Mr Rajput was confronted with shopkeeper’s point about the conversion of the garbage point into three shops, he feigned ignorance, but later admitted that the point existed sometime ago. He said the sanitation staff collected waste, but people threw it on main roads. He was told that the HMC was not doing any favour by collecting solid waste. “I think you need to take rest as you look tired,” Mr Muslim told him when the officer tried to defend himself.

One shopkeeper, Abdul Karim, repudiated the claims of the mayor and MC that sewerage issues were being addressed regularly. “I can swear that it is only today that this cleanliness is being seen and sewage is not accumulating because of this visit, otherwise it is a routine problem for us,” Karim said.

A member of Hindu community, Megha Ram, entreated the commission’s head to do something for the religious minority’s graveyard that is flooded with sewage. He was backed by another resident Mohammad Anwar who made an identical complaint, saying that the graveyard near Faizan-i-Madina faced a similar problem.

The former SC judge asked the Wasa MD, MC and mayor to jointly resolve the issue of sewage collection at Guru Nagar chowk at all costs and submit him a report in this regard. He said the water supply lines passing through drain should be fixed at the other end of the drain.

“The HMC had cleaned it earlier, but its silt was thrown in the drain by HMC sanitary staff,” said a resident of the locality.

The commission visited Sabzi Mandi area at Hali Road. Just before his arrival, the HMC started lifting garbage from the main road.

A TV channel’s reporter, who is a resident of the locality, showed a video clip recorded by him to show that HMC vehicle had collected solid waste only before commission’s arrival. “Life has become hell for residents of this area just because of Sabzi Mandi which is not being shifted to its new location,” he said.

A union committee chairman, Mehfooz Gaddi, told the commission that locals often failed to send their children to school because of blockade of road outside Sabzi Mandi. Javed Ahmed, a vegetable wholesale merchant, told him that shifting of old Sabzi Mandi to the new site was being delayed.

Mr Muslim asked Ghulam Mustafa Channa to direct the Hyderabad commissioner, secretary local government, administrator market committee and Javed Ahmed to appear before the commission on Saturday in Karachi.

He asked the director health to attend to solid waste on the road. He asked the task force chairman to look into the matter of Latifabad Unit-4 filter plant of Wasa where contaminated water was being collected from the Indus.

The Wasa MD told him that a separate project cost-I (PC-I) was submitted to the Sindh government for rehabilitation and extension of all filtration plants. He said water was being lifted from a source where contamination was taking place and Wasa had plans to lift water from upstream.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2018