Desperate times: Make Rangers responsible for water supply for three months, demands PTI

Dr Arif Alvi believes this measure will help root out the prevailing corruption.

KARACHI: Irked by the shortage of water in the city, leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) demanded that Rangers be given the authority to manage water supply in Karachi.

"Rangers should take control of the system for three months and monitor everything," said MNA Arif Alvi at a press conference at the party's media cell on Saturday. "This will bring to light who is involved behind the water shortage and corruption."

He blamed the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Pakistan Peoples Party for the water crisis, saying that there was massive corruption in the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) as political activists have 'hijacked' the organisation.

"A political party is getting benefits by having its [members as] employees at the KWSB," he said. "There are positions for 7,000 employees but 13,000 people are currently employed."

He demanded that the accounts and properties of the KWSB employees be monitored.

Condemning the water crisis, he said that it was turning into a major issue. According to him, tanker owners were demanding as much as Rs15,000 in well-to-do neighbourhoods.

He said that the PTI rejects the hydrant system and demanded that the hydrant in-charge be changed and water be supplied through pipelines. "The chief minister should take all the political parties in confidence over the issue."

PTI MPA Khurram Sher Zaman said that whenever the MQM is out of the government, they find faults in Karachi but when they are part of it, they do nothing to redress the water crisis.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 10^th, 2015.