KARACHI, June 10: The entire North Karachi industrial area facing acute shortage of water is forced to take costly ride by paying 100 per cent more than the actual cost to water tanker mafia.
For a tanker of 6,000 gallons, the Water Board charges Rs432 and rangers Rs150, thus making a total cost of Rs582 per tanker. But industries, mostly textiles and value-added items, are paying Rs1,600-1,800.
If Rs200 diesel and other expenses excluded the tanker mafia is earning Rs1,000 as net profit on per trip.
The rangers do not sanction water tankers to the industrial units but allow tanker owners to sell water at their own rate and supply.
Besides water scarcity, industrialists of North Karachi are also braving frequent power breakdowns.
These pressing problems of industrialists are contained in a SOS message, sent to Prime Minister, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali on Tuesday by Patron-in-chief, North Karachi Association of Trade and Industry (NKATI), Captain A. Moiz Khan.
The SOS message said that the water supply to the industrial areas has been disconnected in connivance with KWSB staff and City District Government officials. The supply has been shut down by Water Board Officials on the instruction, as they said, by Lt Col Tanveer Naqvi, head of 73 Wing Rangers and according to Water Board Officials, he has taken the spindles of all the valves in his possession so that KWSB could not supply water to industrialists.
There were a number of katchi abadis alongside the industrial area which were getting water from the same line by using suction pumps without paying any water taxes to the Water Board, Capt Moiz said in his letter to the PM.
He said that Water Board should be asked not to supply water to tanker mafia and it should supply water to industrial and commercial areas. In fact the 50 per cent of the water supply to the city is sold from hydrants to tanker mafia which should be regulated through water pipelines.
North Karachi area was developed in 1974 and two water main lines were laid down — one of 12 inch diameter and the other of four inch diameter as branch line to cover the industrial area consisting of 2,500 industrial plots.
The letter said that the role of Sindh government and City Government in solving the problems of the industrialists was very negligible.
Capt Moiz urged the prime minister to take cognizance of the grave problems being faced by the industrialists who have to meet the export commitments in time besides preparing themselves for meeting the challenges of the WTO.