The mighty water board

25 Aug, 2005

As a reader of your paper, I am surprised to see that inspite of your very forceful and revealing editorial, and a spate of letters appearing in your daily, the woes of the people against the Karachi Water & Sewerage Board (KW&SB) for mismanagement in the supply of water to the high-rise complexes in Gulistan-e-Jouhar and other high-rise flats in other areas of the city, have still not been remedied.
In Rufi Lake Drive (RLD) in Gulistan-e-Jouhar, even water for 2-3 hours on alternate days is not supplied on some days. Most of the grievances of the writers of the letters appearing in your daily have centered around water shortages, uneven distribution of water of the KW&SB, mismanagement, corruption in KW&SB like other departments, high-handedness of the administration, fear of no accountability in the KW&SB and not providing water meters at the bulk source in high rise flats complexes, disregard of the actual tax payers and conniving with tax evaders.
The KW&SB has also been charged for injudicious billing, resorted to without any standard yardstick and the amount of water supplied to the high-rise, regardless of whether the water reaches them or not. But they have to pay the water tax.
In most of the letters in your daily the writers, as a last resort, have requested help from President and the Prime Minister of Pakistan, the Governor Sindh, Chief Minister Sindh, Chairman KW&SB and the Managing Director of KW&SB, but not a finger has so far been lifted to give relief to the oppressed consumers of Gulistan-e-Jouhar, Karachi.
It appears, as if, the genuine problems of the tax payers, are also not worth the attention of the authorities mentioned in the letters. This is certainly not a good example of good governance.
The KW&SB would do well, if underground water is tapped at a few places in the city, and saline water converted into potable water to make-up the recurring shortages, which are growing from year to year, due to increased population and 'katchi abadis' in Karachi.

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