Hyderabad civic bodies 'headless' for over 15 days

The Hyderabad Water and Sewerage Corporation (WASC) and the Hyderabad Development Authority (HDA) have been headless for more than 15 days now, exacerbating their financial and administrative crises.

The Sindh government has released Rs175 million for these civic bodies, but due to administrative loopholes, salaries and pensions of employees could not be paid. The payment of salary cheques to Grade 17 officers in HDA has been halted due to frozen bank accounts on the Federal Board of Revenue's (FBR) directives.

According to a notification from the provincial chief secretary, key officials, including HDA Director General (DG) Asghar Ali Ghangro and WASA Managing Director (MD) Zahid Khemtio, were relieved for senior management courses, leaving the institutions headless and plagued by financial and administrative mismanagement. Moreover, the HDA and WASA unions organised protests against this situation.

The chief secretary has ordered that Additional Commissioner Ahsan Ali Qureshi be given additional responsibilities; however, he has not yet assumed his new role. As a result, the situation has continued to deteriorate. The absence of effective leadership has emboldened some officers to act arbitrarily as water shortages worsen in Qasimabad and Latifabad. To make matters worse, water tanker rates have also increased, adding to the citizens' woes.

WASA Union General Secretary Insaf Lashari has called for a protest at the Tulsidas Pumping Station on Wednesday. He urged employees to participate in the demonstration to demand their salaries and pensions.

Surprisingly, funds are available in the institution's accounts, but salaries cannot be released due to a leadership vacuum and unconfirmed bank signatures.

Citizens face compounded difficulties due to the administrative crisis, including officer arbitrariness and water woes. Government efforts have yielded no tangible results.