HYDERABAD: The Supreme Court-appointed commission on water quality and drainage in Sindh on Wednesday expressed “serious reservations” over the conduct of officers of Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (HMC) who, it said, not only refused to comply with its directives but also continuously misled the mayor.

The commission headed by retired Justice Amir Hani Muslim passed the order, which said that as a last chance, the HMC officers were directed to produce the entire record of the expenditures they had made in sanitation sector before divisional commissioner by 3pm that day (Wednesday).

It ordered that not a single penny — against the expenditures claimed already — be released to HMC’s director of health, Rafiq Rajput, in the intervening period till the commission was done with its probe. The commission would pass the order after receiving report from the commissioner.

Syed Zulfiqar Hyder, executive engineer, stated that the excavator could not be repaired for want of work order as the vehicle inspector was answerable to the director of health.

The commission directed chairman task force to form a committee to evaluate monetary and technical aspect of the project cost-I floated by the Water and Sanitation Agency as the commission had reservations over evaluation by Wasa.

Justice Muslim directed Jamshoro deputy commissioner to finalise a list of the landowners who were to be paid compensation under the commission’s directives for the waterlogging in their land caused by seepage from Jamshoro Power Company Limited (JPCL). He ordered chief executive officer of JPCL — commonly known as Jamshoro thermal power plant — to appear before the commission.

The judge during a visit to Old Hala and Bhitshah ordered stoppage of funds to a number of ill-conceived water supply schemes and directed officers concerned to appear before the commission on Thursday in Hyderabad along with expenditures made and how such schemes were designed.

Jamshoro Deputy Commissioner Fariduddin Mustafa confirmed that payments to contractor for construction of water channel from JPCL to Indus had been made and the channel would release powerhouse’s water into the river. The contractor had assured that construction work would be completed by June 30, 2018.

The commission had passed the order in March about payment of compensation to the landowners whose lands were hit by waterlogging due to seepage from the powerhouse’s outfall. CEO JPCL informed that the federal secretary of energy had placed the matter before the board on March 28 and the board had approved the commission’s recommendations.

The commission asked Jamshoro DC to finalise the list in consultation with the CEO and sessions judge after physical inspection and perusal of revenue record. The exercise be completed within seven days after which the list, according to CEO, would be sent to the board for approval, it said.

On receipt of the board’s approval, the compensation be disbursed among the landowners concerned through cheques by the committee comprising representatives of sessions judge, CEO and DC Jamshoro, it said.

The commission asked the DC and SSP to ensure that no hindrance was caused to the proposed work of the contractor by locals.

Justice Muslim allowed secretary of Public Health Engineering (PHE), Dr Riaz Ahmed Memon, to recruit required staff in order to strengthen the department which was without human resource.

PHE secretary had made a formal request to the commission on May 8 and he was directed that proposed employment by PHE be made on contract basis on merit after proper advertisement.

The commission’s registrar Ghulam Mustafa Channa was directed to send a copy of the directive to secretary Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and Supreme Court’s registrar so that they might not have any misconception.

PHE secretary had submitted a request to the commission in view of ECP’s ban, seeking permission to hire staff to expedite work on the schemes for which the commission had been formed.

Visits to water supply schemes

Later, the commission visited water supply scheme of Bhitshah lying abandoned for 10 years and ordered that not a single penny be released either to local government or deputy commissioner of Matiari for such a scheme.

The commission said that tenders issued by works department stood cancelled and the finance department would be releasing amount to PHE. Any amount under the head of any water supply or drainage scheme lying with DC or XEN be transferred to the PHE, it said.

In Old Hala, Justice Muslim was shocked to notice that the drainage scheme had been built within the premises of water supply scheme. Rs13.7m had been spent but the scheme remained non-functional as the entire amount had gone down the drain due to incompetence or dishonesty of works department, which had no role under rules of business to undertake such exercise.

He asked the DC to stop all payments and directed secretary of works to conduct an inquiry into planning of the scheme within two weeks. After the inquiry report was received, the commission would pass appropriate orders, he said.

In the intervening period no money would be utilised on this scheme. All the amount received by the DC through finance or LG departments would be transferred to PHE, he said.

The commission directed assistant engineer Faisal Khaskheli to bring entire record on Matiari district which should reflect functional or dysfunctional sewerage and water supply schemes and their status.

The judge said the record be produced before the commission in Hyderabad at 10am on Thursday. He asked the DIG and SSP of Matiari to appear before the commission regarding encroachment by police on the land of water supply scheme.

Sessions judges to probe water shortage

A group of farmers from tail-end areas of Rohri Canal led by Pir Bux Hashmani, Aslam Kaimkhani and others met the judge and drew his attention towards water shortage in their area in the tail-end of Rohri Canal system in Tando Allahyar and Badin districts.

The commission directed sessions judges of the two districts to submit an inquiry report to the commission on water shortage and then appropriate orders would be passed.

Published in Dawn, May 10th, 2018