KARACHI, Dec 30: A meeting, chaired by Sindh Chief Secretary Muhammad Aslam Sanjrani, decided on Thursday to register FIRs against those having illegal water connections , and action against those employees of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board who back such elements.

The meeting was attended by additional chief secretary, Local Government, Muhammad Saleem Khan, DCO Fazlur Rehman, KWSB Managing Director Brig Iftikhar Haider, additional secretary, Implementation and Coordination, Iqbal Deewan, TMOs of various towns, DIG (Operations) Mushtaq Shah and other officials.

Reviewing the KWSB drive against illegal hydrants and water connections, the meeting was told that up to 400 million gallons of water had been saved during the campaign, which started on Nov 24, and would continue till Feb 28, 2005.

The meeting decided to cut down the electricity connections of unauthorized hydrants, cancel their leases and invalidate the NOCs. It also decided to set up a cell in the LG department to check encroachments in the city, to which all TMOs would send weekly performance reports.

Mr Sanjrani asked the TMOs to fulfilling their responsibilities pertaining to encroachments, garbage, solid waste disposal, and other public concerns. He directed the managing director of the KWSB to boost up contacts with the authorities concerned, including Sindh Local Government department and the city government to overcome difficulties faced by the board. - PPI