KARACHI, March 28: City Nazim Niamatullah Khan has pledged issuance of permits for new routes and inclusion of 273 more buses in the city's public transport network.

The pledge came at a meeting convened by the city government's Transport and Communication Department to review the Urban Transport Scheme (UTS). The city Nazim chaired the meeting held at Civic Centre.

Earlier, EDO (Transport) Dr Tahir Soomro gave a briefing to the participants about the UTS. He said that 105 new buses were being operated in the city under the scheme whereas 273 airconditioned buses would join the fleet by September this year.

The meeting was told that in this regard, three new companies would enter into an agreement with the city government next month and another seven were scheduled to finalize agreements within a couple of months.

New routes would be allotted to these companies in order to ensure better travel facilities to the common man, the EDO said. The meeting expressed satisfaction over the pace of work on the scheme and the participants hoped that the new buses would contribute to an improvement in the environment as obsolete and worn out vehicles would go off the roads.

WATER CONNECTIONS: City Nazim Niamatullah Khan has directed the KWSB to launch a campaign for the regularization of illegal water connections in the kutchi abadis to generate revenues for the Board.

He was speaking at the Board's meeting, held here on Sunday, which was attended by Managing Director Shahid Saleem and the Nazim's representative, Mr Saifuddin.

Mr Khan issued directives for disciplinary action against the executive engineers showing negligence in getting line-leakage repaired or failing to provide information in this regard.

He stressed on legislation on laying dual system for water supply meant for flats and highrise buildings. Pointing out that drinking water could be saved in a huge quantity by using sub-soil water for other purposes, he advised the citizens to conserve potable water and install gate valve/float valve in underground tanks to avoid excessive going waste.

The City Nazim said that it was the responsibility of the KWSB to arrange for water supply to all citizens, asking the concerned officials for measures to ensure a smooth supply during summer. - APP/PPI