Final warning: Company to be fined Rs20,000 for each day its RO plant remains closed

Residents, farmers complain of unjust distribution of water in Sindh

HYDERABAD: The Supreme Court-mandated Commission on Water and Sanitation has warned the private company operating reverse osmosis plants in Benazirabad district that it will be fined Rs20,000 per day if its RO plants remain shut without a justifiable reason. The commission's head, Justice (retd) Amir Hani Muslim visited the filtration, RO and treatment plants in Nawabshah on Monday.

Chief municipal officer of Nawabshah Municipal Committee, Abdul Razzak Shaikh, complained to the commission that the private company often kept its RO plants shut without a reason. Justice (R) Muslim directed the company's official, Irshad Hussain, to ensure the regular supply of water through the plants. "If, without a justifiable reason, the company closes an RO plant, it will be fined Rs20,000 per day," he warned.

The commission directed the Sindh irrigation secretary, Jamal Mustafa Syed, to relieve Public Health Engineering Department's official, Sajjad Ali, from his duty in the district on account of his poor performance. The tenders floated by the official were also cancelled.

The commission asked the deputy commissioner, Abrar Ahmed Jaffar, to ensure that the citizens are supplied clean drinking water and tasked him with monitoring the staff found to be negligent in their duty.

Badin

Acting on a complaint, Justice (R) Muslim directed the district administration of Badin to seize the illegal lift machines that steal water from the irrigation network and to task the Rangers and the police for the operation. "If the authorities fail again, I will take action against them," he warned.

The commission, which visited Badin on Sunday, was informed that around 150 lift machines have been stealing water from the network in the head area of the irrigation system.

Haji Hanif Khaskheli, a local politician, complained before the commission that the water level at Kotri barrage, which is the irrigation and water source for lower Sindh and Karachi, is at its lowest. The water levels at the upstream of Guddu and Sukkur barrages are 40,000 cusecs and 30,000 cusecs, respectively, but it's less than 4,000 cusecs at Kotri, he said, arguing that the Sindh government was unjustly distributing water in the province.

"The coastal districts Thatta, Sujjawal and Badin have been left dry. The persistent water scarcity in the irrigation network has even turned the groundwater sour," he contended. "The people have been left with no choice but to leave their homes and migrate for survival." Ghulam Hussain Soomro, president of Badin's traders union, also complained about the water filtration plants and RO plants. He told the commission that the RO plants were using canal water instead of subsoil water in violation of their contract with the government. "Most RO plants remain closed for three to four months."

Aftab Memon, a local resident, blamed the local municipal authorities for supplying unfiltered water to Badin. "Despite repeated orders of the water commission, the local authorities have failed to make the plants functional," he claimed.

Justice (R) Muslim told the officials that he was giving them a final warning to address the citizens' complaints. He also warned the irrigation officials of action if they failed to stop the theft.

Hyderabad

The commission directed the Cantonment Board Hyderabad (CBH) to pay part of the arrears to Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA), which supplies water in bulk quantity to CBH. The board's chief executive officer (CEO) Sardar Atif told the commission, during a meeting at the Judges' Lodge in Hyderabad on Sunday, that they will comply with the order within a month but under protest. The issue of reconciling the water bills between the two agencies will be settled later. 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 4^th, 2018.