KARACHI, April 9: The provincial Ombudsman has directed the KWSB Managing Director to take immediate measures for repairing an 18-inch dia pipeline that has been leaking between Toll Plaza and Gulzar-i-Hijri police station in Scheme-33 for the last two- and-a-half years.

A decision to this effect was taken by the Ombudsman, Justice (Retd) Haziq-ul-Khairi, after the convener of Awami Council, Iqbal Qureshi, lodged a complaint with him, stating that the 18- inch dia pipeline has been leaking near Toll Plaza in Scheme-33, but nobody has taken any notice of the leakage.

The complainant has also brought to the Ombudsman’s notice that on the one hand, a considerable quantity of water was being wasted from the leaking pipeline and, one the other, the water coming out from several joints of the pipeline has been causing damage to private properties.

Communicating the Ombudsman’s decision to the KWSB MD, Brig Mohammad Behram Khan, through a letter sent on April 4, 2002, the Ombudsman’s advisor has also requested him to immediately take up the issue, put the pipeline in order within a month and report compliance to the Ombudsman Secretariat.

The Ombudsman, in his decision, had, among other things, stated that “despite notices to Brig Mohammad Behram Khan by name from this Secretariat, nobody cared from June 2001 to March 2002 to drop a few lines in rebuttal of the allegations which gives rise to the presumption that the allegations are correct.”

It was also pointed out in the decision that following devolution of powers, the matter was referred to the Gulshan-i- Iqbal Town Nazim, A. Wahab, through a letter (dated 13.10.2001) but he also failed to file any report in this regard.