Commission orders installation of flow meters at RO plants in Tharparkar

Gives 15 days to the private operator of around 600 RO plants

HYDERABAD: The Supreme Court-mandated Judicial Commission on Water and Sanitation directed the private company operating the reverse osmosis plants in Tharparkar to install flow meters in the RO plants to measure the supply of water.

The commission's head, Justice (retd) Amir Hani Muslim visited the RO plants in Tharparkar's villages on Friday.



He gave 15 days to the private operator of around 600 RO plants in the district to install the flow meters. The residents of villages in Islamkot taluka complained to the commission that the RO plants in their villages have remained closed for over three months.

Mohan Meghwadh, Irfan Bajeer, Kala Ram and other workers of the RO plants also complained to Justice (retd) Muslim that they have not been paid their salaries for four months. The commission directed the private company, Pak Oasis, and officials of the public health engineering department to restart all the closed plants and address the issue of unpaid salaries.

"Unless the flow meters aren't installed in all the RO plants, the company will not be paid for its services," he told the company's official, Irshad Hussain. He further directed him to repair the water tanks built near the RO plants for the livestock within a week and submit a report in this regard.



Earlier, on Thursday, Justice (retd) Muslim had directed the irrigation department to release water to Rann Minor, which is the only water channel supplying river water to some parts of Tharparkar.  The local residents had informed him that the canal irrigated areas have not been provided water for many years.

He summoned the officials of the public health engineering department, Nara Irrigation Division of Sukkur Barrage and Pak Oasis to appear before the commission on November 6.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 3^rd, 2018.