Water commission summons owner of private school

Complaint states school was built illegally

KARACHI: The Supreme Court-mandated Commission on Water and Sanitation summoned on Monday the owner of a private school built near the sewerage plant on November 5. The commission, headed by Justice Amir Hani Muslim, heard the complaint against the private school concerning its proximity to a sewerage treatment plant. Lawyer for the private school, Jam Asif Mehmood, observed that the copy of the complaint lodged against the school had not been made available to him. The commission directed the other party to provide a copy of the complaint.

The commission had earlier issued notices to the school, Sindh Industrial Trading Estate (SITE) Association, and others in previous hearings of the case. According to Advocate Tariq Mansoor, the private school was being run illegally on land that was registered in the name of a private company. The school was built in place of the company. However, he mentioned that opening a school in an industrial area is against the law. The sewerage waste of S3 plant lies at the posterior end of the school. The sewerage plant waste exposes children studying at the school to various diseases.

The report regarding the provision of clean drinking water in all schools of Sindh was also submitted and made part of the record.

Sindh School Education and Literacy Department Secretary Qazi Shahid Pervaiz submitted a report observing that students in 1,500 schools in Sindh are still deprived of clean drinking water. The report further stated that a survey of 5,929 government schools of Sindh has been completed, out of which 4,466 schools had access to clean drinking water. The remaining schools will be provided with clean water by December 2018. The court ordered the private school owner to personally appear in court on the next hearing.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 30^th, 2018.