Chief Secretary Sindh, Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah has directed Secretary Industries to collect the data of utilisation of surface water by the 3, 4 and 5 star hotels and big and small industrial units in the province.
Presiding over an important meeting regarding Supreme Court's order of charging one Rupee per litre from mineral water companies on the water they are extracting from the ground, he said that as per directives of the Supreme Court a mechanism will be devised for calculation, collection and monitoring of the recovery of water charges from all major industries consuming surface or groundwater. Secretary local government Khalid Hyder Shah has been nominated as focal person in this regard.
He also directed concerned authorities to install water flow meters and close-circuit cameras will also be installed at the respective premises of the companies involved in the extraction of groundwater or utilisation of surface water for their business. The extraction will be monitored closely by the Environment Protection Agency (EPA).
Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah said that these companies are using very huge amount of water and are paying nothing for it. He stated that collecting 1 rupee per litter will help Sindh government to collect huge amount on water tariff. He said that provincial government's aim is to strengthen the provincial food authority so that it could perform its functions in the best of manner.
He said that a central laboratory of Sindh Food Authority will be established in Karachi.
Professor Dr Muhammad Ahsan Siddique, the convener of committee made by Supreme Court and officers of Sindh Food Authority briefed the meeting regarding water extraction by the various mineral water and beverage companies. He informed the meeting that 29,961,452 litres of water per day is being extracted by the 10 companies from their 14 plants in Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur.
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