KARACHI, April 29: The prevailing adhocism in the administrative setup of the city government’s Water and Sanitation (W&S) Department has emerged as the root cause of the rapidly deteriorating performance, of both the department and its officials. A great deal of resentment has been noted among the officials over the issue.

The department’s poor performance is being attributed to the new practice of posting a junior official on a senior post (though on officiating basis), giving dual charge of an important post to some senior official and the inordinate delay in convening departmental promotion committees meetings.

Insiders have warned that unless the present policy of running the water utility purely on adhocism was given up at once, the situation might lead to further disenchantment among its officials.

Sources revealed that out of 18 executive engineers (Water Distribution Wing), deputed at 18 town administrations, only two were grade-18 officials while the others were working on officiating basis because of being either assistant engineer or sub-engineer.

Similarly, two other officials — Najme Alam Siddiqui (Xen) and Salim Akhtar (sub-engineer) — are performing duties as superintending engineer and executive engineer respectively of the W&S Department’s Water Trunk Main (WTM) despite the fact that this department is considered as the backbone of the city’s water supply system. It is the WTM wing of the department which first manages the entire water supply, received from Indus River and Hub Dam sources, before diverting it to the distribution department to ensure an equitable distribution across the every nook and corner of the city as per the prescribed schedule.

In yet another case, the W&S Department’s chief engineer (Sewerage), Mr Asudomal, who is already heavily occupied with the task of managing the city’s obsolete sewerage system, has been given the additional charge of chief engineer (Water distribution) in the absence of Mr Khalid Malik who is on one-month leave. His absence has created serious problems at a time when the city is already in the grip of water shortage and protests demonstrations in the seriously affected localities have become order of the day.

The story of adhocism does not end here. A number of other senior posts, fallen vacant due to retirements and completion of contractual employees’ terms, have not been filled through promotion of subordinates. Instead some other officials, already having much burden, have been assigned the additional charge.

For instance, the post of deputy managing director (Human Resource and Administration Department) is lying vacant since August last following Usman Raees Baloch’s retirement. The additional charge of the post is currently with the DMD (Recovery and Resource Generation Department), Syed Akhlaq Hussain Shah.

Similarly, the W&S Department’s director (Accounts) Zahid Majeed, had retired recently and the post was being looked after by the director (Finance), Pir Zaman Shah.

The W&S Public Relations Department which, till recently, was headed by deputy director (Taxes) and who is now on medical leave is, at present, being looked after by an assistant of grade-14 under the supervision of a DMD.

Moreover, the inordinate delay in convening meetings of departmental promotions committees (both of officers and employees) is creating resentment among officials. The committees’ last meetings were held in May 1998. Since then, all the promotions in the W&S department are being made on officiating basis, setting merit and seniority criteria aside.