KARACHI, Feb 17: The Karachi Electric Supply Company on Friday sent a disconnection notice to the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board for the recovery of the outstanding amount of Rs16.694 billion.

The KESC warned the water utility to pay a minimum of Rs1 billion within seven days or power supply to all its facilities, including pumping stations, would be disconnected, according to a press statement issued by the KESC.

The KESC disconnection notice drew immediate ire of the KWSB, which claimed that any such move might create unrest and unemployment in the metropolis.

KWSB Managing Director Misbahuddin Farid said that the power utility’s notice “smacks of a conspiracy because with the disconnection of electricity of major water installations, the city that is already facing a serious power crisis will also be deprived of water supply and such a situation is bound to create a serious law and order situation in the metropolis.”

He appealed to the governor and the chief minister to take immediate notice of the threatening language used in the KESC notice and restrain the power utility from taking such a coercive and harsh action against the water utility.

‘City receiving risky water’

The Karachi Water and Sewerage Board has conveyed its concern to the irrigation department over the contamination of Keenjhar Lake water, saying that hazardous, untreated chemical waste was finding its way into the water channels of KB Feeder leading to the lake.

In a letter addressed to the provincial irrigation secretary, KWSB chief Misbahuddin Farid said that industrial units of Kotri and Jamshoro were continuously disposing of their untreated waste near a canal linked to the Kotri Barrage and causing contamination of Keenjhar Lake water, being supplied to Karachi and Thatta.

The irrigation department has been requested to check the unlawful practice as it posed a serious health risk to water consumers of Karachi and Thatta.

The KWSB chief urged the department to ask the industrialists to stop the practice before it played havoc with the lives of people.