Councillors torpedo move to regularise illegal hydrants

Opposition PTI members stage walkout as summary fails to gather steam

ISLAMABAD: The issue of dwindling water supply to the capital turned an emergency meeting of the local government council raucous on Thursday as members of the treasury and opposition benches vociferously opposed a summary to regularise illegal water hydrants and tube wells in the capital.

The opposition later walked out of the session.

The Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC) met for its 24th session on Thursday with Deputy Mayor Chaudhry Rifat Javed in the chair. The meeting had been held following directives from the Supreme Court to deliberate over surcharges imposed on the extraction of water for commercial and domestic use in the city and to take action against illegal water operations.

The house took up a summary for legalising water hydrants operating in the capital and imposing taxes on water boars for domestic use.

When house started proceedings on Thursday, a summary for the hydrants and tube wells was presented.



Since the issue was not included in the day’s agenda, it prompted some council members to protest deliberation on it.

The opposition leader from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Ali Nawaz Awan said that they have been highlighting the coming water crisis in the capital for the past two and half years.

After the apex court took notice of water shortage, the local government had held three sessions within a month to deliberate over the matter, he complained.

“By regularising illegal hydrants and issuing no-objection certificates (NOCs) for installation of new hydrants, the corporation will become responsible for according permission to water thieves to sell water after stealing it,” Awan lamented.

He asked why was the IMC and the Capital Development Authority (CDA), which owns assets worth billions, not installing their own hydrants, and why were people being mocked for asking for something as basic as water.

The council members suggested that the summary had been prepared without consulting union council chairmen in a bid to deceive the Supreme Court.

“How can council members approve it [the summary] without reading it first,” Awan asked. “To avoid the ire of the top court, the IMC administration wants to use council members,” the opposition leader said as he pointed out the absence of the summary from the meeting’s agenda document.

Earlier Water Supply Director Jamil Butt briefed the house that illegal water hydrants could secure an NOC by paying between Rs50,000 to Rs100,000 as a lump sum amount while they went on to charge Rs2,000 from consumers to supply a single water tanker.

Butt explained that local police stations will seal hydrants who violate the rules.

“Why is the corporation not handling this responsibility itself,” asked council member Azhar Mehmood, adding that it was pathetic that the entire IMC appears to be protecting the interests of private contractors rather than those of the people.

He pointed out that dozens of illegal hydrants and tube wells had been installed in every union council. Curiously, he said that the IMC administration did not seek details of these illegal water systems from the UC chairmen before deciding on the summary.

Mehmood demanded that the IMC administration provide details on how many illegal hydrants and tube wells operating on CDA land were sealed and what action was taken against water thieves.

He further exhorted the IMC administration to muster the guts to tell SC that they were patronising water thieves.

PML-N Union Council Chairmen Sardar Mehtab and Naeem Gujjar said they could not give any relief to the general public. People were not provided with water during the month of Ramazan, they conceded.



Rather than regularise illegal hydrants, they urged the CDA and IMC install their own facilities.

To placate the council's members, Chief Municipal Officer (CMO) Najaf Iqbal told the house that the court had given them just two days to prepare a report due to which the chairmen and members of the council could not be consulted nor could they were informed about the summary ahead of the session.

Council members from even the treasury benches largely rejected the summary.

The PTI members then boycotted the session in protest, prompting the deputy mayor to postpone the meeting owing to lack of quorum.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 22^nd, 2018.