KARACHI, April 22: The 242-member House of the City Council on Tuesday staged a token walk-out to voice their anger over persisting water crisis in the city in general and Lyari Town in particular.
The Council — which met for the first time in the renovated Council hall with senior presiding officer, Muslim Pervaiz, in the chair — lashed out at the officials of the water and sanitation department for failing to ensure equitable distribution of water, thereby adding misery to the citizens in the hot and humid weather.
The preceding session of the Council, in the hall designated for the purpose, was convened on Nov 21. Thereafter, the Council hall was closed for renovation and expansion work. During the period the Council hall remained closed, the sessions were held either in the conference hall of the city government’s secretariat in Civic Centre or under a shamiana on the lawns of the defunct KMC’s head office.
Most of the Council members who took part in the debate over the water issue described the performance of the water and sanitation department as ‘poor’. The members belonging to Lyari Town wore black arm-bands to register their protest over the lingering issue.
A member of the Council from Lyari Town — Nazim of UC-8, Sultan Bahadur Khan — informed the House that even though the Nazim of Lyari’s UC-1, Haji Nadim Akhtar, and his Naib Nazim had been observing hunger strike for the last two days, neither the executive district officer nor the chief engineer of the W&S department had bothered to contact the elected representatives of the area.
At this stage, Siddiq Rathore, stood up and asked members of the House to stage a walk-out to express their solidarity with the elected representatives of Lyari and to register their anger over the indifferent attitude of the officials of W&S department.
COMMITTEE: The Council, which re-assembled after observing a five-minute walk-out, formed a 21-member committee to furnish its report on the city’s water supply situation. This report is also supposed to dwell on the issue of the rangers’ control of hydrants.
Earlier, Mr Rathore accused the senior officials of the W&S department of running an “independent organization” despite KWSB’s devolution. He said although the defunct KWSB’s hydrants had become the property of the city district government, the residents of water-starved localities had not benefited from them as their water was being sold on commercial basis.
A member from Lyari — A. Rasheed Baloch — regretted that even though a population of 300,000 souls, residing in the five union councils of Lyari, were deprived of water for the last one week the officials of the W&S department had not taken meaningful measures.
Another member from Lyari — Habib Hasan — accused the officials of the W&S department of diverting Lyari’s water from a pipeline situated near the campus of NED Engineering University.
A lady member — Ms Mangla Sharma — said water crisis was not confined to Lyari alone but other towns, including Orangi, Baldia, Jamshed, Saddar, were also experiencing shortages.
Abdul Razzak Sanghani threatened that the House would not approve the W&S department’s next budget if it failed to ensure equitable distribution of water in every nook and corner of the city.
Ms Shamim Akhtar too criticized the officials of the W&S department, saying that most parts of Saddar Town.
COMMERCIALIZATION: When a resolution pertaining to the city government’s plan of commercializing plots of land situated on the 12 main roads of the city was tabled for approval, most of the members suggested that a house committee be set up to look into the plan.
Acceding to the demand of the members, the convener of the House, Muslim Pervaiz, formed a 21-member committee, asking it to submit a report within a month.
The roads which are expected to be declared as commercial and where residential buildings and plots might be converted to commercial ones after payment of certain fee include: Sharea Faisal (from Metropole Hotel to Malir Bridge); Tariq Road (from Bahadurabad roundabout to Sharea Faisal); Rashid Minhas Road (from Sharea Faisal to Nagan Chowrangi); University Road (From Jail Chowrangi to Safoora Chowrangi); Sharea Pakistan (from Teen Hatti to Sohrab Goth); Nazimabad, left side of main road towards Paposh Nagar and extension up to Lasbella Bridge.