HYDERABAD: A large number of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) activists, many of them accompanying their children, held a protest demonstration at Koh-i-Noor Chowk here on Tuesday against supply of contaminated water to consumers and deteriorating civic conditions in Hyderabad district.

MQM-P lawmakers from the district who spoke to the participants described the provincial government as anti-people for its failure to address the issues.

MNA Salahuddin said that 95 per cent of the district’s population did not get safe drinking water. “We gave the government ample time to get the issues resolved but it has miserably failed to do anything in this regard so far,” the MNA said, and accused the government of having adopted a biased policy towards the people of Hyderabad.

He pointed out that contaminated water was being supplied to consumers and stagnant sewage on roads and in streets could not be removed for a long time. The people of this district were being made to endure a miserable life, he added.

He said that the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) managing director and other officers had adopted an indifferent attitude towards the issues. “They seem to be not willing to look into the matter at all,” he said.

MNA Salahuddin said that Rs1,500 billion had been released under the head of development in the province over the past 10 years and Hyderabad’s share of around Rs50-60bn should have been given to it but it did not receive even a few million rupees. He alleged that rampant corruption on the part of the Sindh government deprived Hyderabad of its due share.

He referred to the Supreme Court’s observation in the case of Larkana that Rs90bn were released for development in that district but no such works could be seen. He warned that a vigorous campaign would be launched against the Sindh government if it failed to ensure supply of clean drinking water to consumers and take urgent steps for the repair and rehabilitation of the damaged sewerage system in Hyderabad.

He said the city and other parts of the district were also faced with many other civic issues but the drinking water and sewerage problems were the most pressing ones which must be addressed at once.

MPA Rashid Khilji criticised the provincial government for “diverting the ongoing anti-encroachment operation towards people’s livelihood”. He said the operation was launched on Supreme Court’s order which called for retrieving state-owned lands from encroachers but on this pretext poor people’s livelihood was being snatched by removing them from roadsides. He demanded some alternative arrangements for those who had lost their livelihood without having encroached upon any state-owned land.

Khilji also condemned denial of basic facilities to a big population of Hyderabad despite the fact that people were paying billions in terms of taxes.

MPA Nadeem Siddiqui and other MQM-P leaders also spoke.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2018