The commission was also informed that a summary had been forwarded for the installation of flow meters at inlets and outlets of the pumping stations. PHOTO: FILE
KARACHI: The judicial commission on water and sanitation directed on Tuesday the local government secretary, Karachi mayor and heads of the building control and water and sewerage regulatory bodies to chalk out a plan for the cleaning of six major stormwater drains in the city and removal of encroachments from them.
Justice (retd) Amir Hani Muslim, who is heading the Supreme Court (SC)-appointed commission to investigate non-provision of clean drinking water and the poor state of sanitation in Sindh, passed this order after Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar informed the commission that work on widening of the road along Nehar-e-Khayam would start today (Wednesday) and be completed by April 4.
He said that cleaning of the Glass Tower nullah had begun while the nullahs in Orangi, Manzoor Colony, Mehmoodabad and Chakora had obstructions and encroachments, which needed to be examined. He suggested that the local government secretary, task force chairperson, Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) director-general (DG) and Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) managing-director (MD) sit together to resolve the issue of encroachments on drains.
The commission directed the local government secretary to hold a meeting with the task force chairperson, SBCA DG and KWSB MD at his office on March 30 in this regard and submit it to the commission for further orders, if necessary.
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Justice (retd) Muslim observed that the SC, through its March 17 order, had sought a report from the commission in order to decide whether the responsibility of lifting of solid waste in the city should continue to lie with the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board, which has outsourced it to the contractors, or it should be given back to the local government, as it had been argued by Barrister Farogh Naseem, who represented the Karachi mayor before the SC.
Akhtar informed the court that his lawyer had professional commitments this week. He requested for time to assist the commission on this issue.
With the consent of the mayor, local government secretary and additional advocate-general, the hearing on this issue was deferred till Barrister Naseem was available.
Justice (retd) Muslim observed that in the light of the request made by Akhtar, it was not possible for the commission to submit the required report to the SC as the apex court had observed in its order that the commission would give some clear recommendations in this regard after hearing all the concerned.
The SBCA DG submitted a list of all housing schemes in Sindh to the commission. The commission was informed that many of such schemes were allowed without approval of the competent authority and without obtaining no-objection-certificates from different civic agencies.
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With the consent of the parties, the commission ordered that in future the SBCA or the town planning department would approve only those housing schemes which produced the required certificates from civic agencies.
The commission was informed that the KWSB did not have maps and drawings of its projects and it needed to appoint a consultant. Justice (retd) Muslim observed that the water board had a technical adviser and a project director had also been appointed. He observed that nothing had been achieved with their assistance.
The commission was also informed that a summary had been forwarded for the installation of flow meters at inlets and outlets of the pumping stations. The local government secretary said the summary would be expedited and approval would be made hopefully in 10 to 12 days. After that, the scheme would have to be approved by the planning department, he added.
The project director of the S-III scheme informed the commission that the contractor had undertaken to expedite the work at the Treatment Plant-III and Treatment Plant-I and he would report back in a week.
The commission directed the S-III and K-IV project directors to submit a certificate fortnightly regarding the progress of work.
The health secretary filed a report stating that a technical committee had been notified for the procurement of medicines for government hospitals. The commission fixed the matter for the next week when a report would be submitted by the Monitoring and Evaluation Cell of the planning and development department about feasibility of the rehabilitation project of the district and taluka headquarter hospitals in Sindh.
A report was submitted by the Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC) chief executive officer regarding the collection of solid waste and its disposal at a landfill site. The commission observed that improvements had been made by the CBC. The commission remarked that it expected that other cantonment boards would also ensure that their solid municipal waste was properly collected and disposed of at the designated landfill sites.
The commission also directed the West SSP to appear in person next week during the hearing on a complaint regarding water hydrants.
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