No fuel to run Hyd sewage pumps

As Hyderabad Development Authority (HAD) and Hyderabad Water and Sewerage Corporation (HWSC) continue to operate without chiefs for almost three weeks, the city's drainage woes appear to be aggravating.

The overflow of drains has become a common occurrence during the hours of routine load shedding as the release of funds provided for operating power generators of the corporation has been suspended.

"Since the outgoing MD left the charge, the corporation's staff is not being provided diesel to run the generators," an official of HWSC, who requested anonymity, told The Express Tribune. However, on Friday a senior officer of the Corporation, Zeeshan Malik, was given the additional charge of MD HWSC.

Sindh Chief Secretary Asif Hyder Shah issued a notification in this regard and it was received in Hyderabad in the evening. "It is still unclear if the acting MD will have the authority to utilize funds the way his predecessor did," the official said. Interestingly, the notification mentions HWSC with its old name, Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA), which earlier existed as a subsidiary of HDA, until it was given the status of an independent corporation in June this year.

Earlier this week the commissioner Hyderabad Bilal Ahmed Memon was given the additional charge of DG HDA. The two key posts, responsible for supplying water, pumping out drainage, approving commercial and residential projects and performing the city's planning, have remained vacant since November 4.

The HWSC's MD Zahid Khemtio, who was posted for a third tenure in the same organization, and the DG HDA Asghar Ali Ghangro were relieved to join a senior management course in Karachi which will end in February, 2025. An official source claimed that one of these officers kept trying all along to stick to his post while undergoing the training, suggesting the provincial government's authorities that he can travel between the two cities regularly to attend his both responsibilities.

Meanwhile, the employees of both the organizations intermittently resort to protests to demand payment of their unpaid salaries and pensions. They claim up to 10 unpaid salaries from their employers. The HDA is also in the middle of securing Rs500 million grant from the provincial government to pay salaries and pensions to the staff and to meet its other expenses.