Dry is your tap: The politics of water

Parties continue to blame each other as the KWSB's campaign against illegal hydrants fails to produce results

KARACHI: Every time you open the water tap and find only air escaping through the pipe, you must indeed wonder about the government's claims of water management and their promises of constructing new reservoirs to resolve the crisis.

"The treatment meted out to us by these politicians is worse than animals," reflected Farid Memon, a resident of Saddar, who believes that the perpetual water crisis is more political than technical. "This is why the so-called water mafia still manages to operate so openly and the theft of water from the main supply lines is thriving despite repeated campaigns."

Prof Noman Ahmed, the chairperson of the NED University's department of architecture and planning, seemed to agree with Memon's observations. He explained that the theft of water has become an organised crime in which the perpetrators steal up to 35 per cent of potable water and then sell it to the citizens. "This would not be possible without the connivance of the police department, corrupt officials of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) and major political parties," he said.

For their part, the leaders of major political parties in the city - the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf - agreed with the synopsis. They were, however, quick to pin the blame on each other.

MQM's Farooq Sattar told The Express Tribune that the water crisis was being created and manipulated by 'certain political groups'. "The ruling party naturally provides water to their own vote bank," he said, adding that the KWSB was being supervised by the leading party of Sindh. According to Sattar, this was the major reason why most complaints of water shortage were emerging from the areas where his party was in power.

Responding to the allegations, the PPP's senator, Saeed Ghani, agreed on the point that the water mafia enjoyed political backing. "One particular political party, that enjoys a huge support in Karachi, is creating the crisis by puncturing main lines and causing an artificial crisis," he alleged, in an apparent reference to the MQM.

Why doesn't the government or the water board take action against the perpetrators? Ghani said that the KWSB had started a campaign but had been unsuccessful thus far as it staffed a large number of supporters of a particular political party who were creating hindrances in its operations.

Meanwhile, PTI Karachi division's president Ali Zaidi blamed both the major political parties in Karachi. He reasoned that one particular party, whose workers were in a majority in the KWSB, was creating an artificial shortage of water in the city. Zaidi also blamed the ruling party for being allies with them.

The KWSB speaks

Speaking to The Express Tribune, KWSB managing director Qutubuddin Shaikh admitted that that political interference and ghost employees were the major hindrances in the smooth functioning of the board. "We are acquiring physical verification certificates of all employees by order of the local bodies minister, Sharjeel Inam Memon." he claimed. "We will throw all ghost employees out within the next few days."

With regards to the ongoing campaign against illegal water hydrants, he said they had disconnected at least 157 illegal connections and demolished hydrants with the support of Rangers personnel. During the operation, the KWSB teams identified 30 other illegal hydrants, 18 of which have been disconnected, he claimed.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 4^th, 2015.