Sindh Water Commission on Monday again summoned Secretary Defence on June 04th to resolve issues of sewerage and distribution of water in DHA and Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC) and restrained the restaurants at Sea View to drain untreated sewerage water into Sea.
The commission headed by Justice (retd) Amir Hani Muslim however showed some flexibility when it directed Secretary Defence to appear either himself or nominate any of his subordinate, not below the rank of joint secretary, with authority to make statement on behalf of ministry.
The commission apparently was not satisfied with undertaking, which was submitted by Secretary Defence in the last hearing. After hearing the Additional Attorney, Secretary DHA, CEO CBC, the petitioner and Focal Person, the commission was of the view that in absence of Secretary Defence or any of his nominee, the issues of drainage of sewerage waste water and distribution of water can't be resolved for various reasons.
Commission observed that there are serious problems of sewerage discharge and there are multiple problems of distribution of drinking water. The Managing Director KW&SB stated in the commission that it is not easy for them to regulate the supply of various cantonments and other installations. "In such a situation, the intervention of ministry is required," MD added.
Commission directed DHA that not a single drop of untreated sewerage water should be drained into sea by restaurants located on the Sea View. They should lift this untreated sewerage water from the septic tanks of the restaurants through bowsers at their costs and the same should only be discharged through Treatment Plant of Phase-III.
"This shall start immediately and in case any restaurant fails to do so, it should be restrained from functioning forthwith," commission directed.It also ordered DHA that this arrangement should be temporary and in the intervening period, the DHA should connect sewerage lines of all such restaurants with the regular sewerage lines of Phase-VI. "Two months' time is granted to DHA for connecting the sewerage lines of the restaurants function on the Sea View with Phase-VIII and should submit the compliance report," Justice Hani directed.
On K-IV Karachi Water Project, commission noted that things need to be expedited as far as project is concerned. The components, which need to be installed and were missing in PC-I should be processed through independent PCs as per the rules, it added.
Commission also ordered for expediting the work on power plant, which is one of the most significant factors for making the project functional. During the proceedings, Mayor Karachi, Wasim Akhtar told the commission that betterment charges of Water Board and Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) have not been released. He said that despite the regular directives, DG Sindh Board Control Authority (SBCA) wilfully avoided compliance.
Commission directed DG SBCA to appear in the commission with the cheques of betterment charges and stated that this amount would be utilized only for essential services like sanitation, clean water supply, fire fighting or equipment for sanitation and not for any other purpose.