KWSB, DHA to explain what they are doing to control marine pollution

SC bench tells AG to arrange meeting between revenue board officials and KATI.


August 27, 2014

KARACHI: The Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) and the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) have to explain to the Supreme Court what measures they have taken to control marine pollution.

The director of KWSB’s S-III Project and the DHA administrator have been cited as respondents in various human rights applications that claim the two authorities are involved in dumping untreated sewage directly into the Arabian Sea.

On Wednesday, a Supreme Court (SC) three-member bench, comprising justices Sarmad Jalal Osmany, Gulzar Ahmed and Muhammad Athar Saeed, which was hearing the case, directed the provincial advocate-general to arrange a meeting between the provincial Board of Revenue officials and the Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (Kati) representatives to solve the issue of provision of land to install a sewerage treatment plant in the relevant industrial zone.

The complainants, including Vice Admiral (retd) Ahmed Tasneem and Tanvir Ahmed, claimed that marine pollution in coastal areas had grown at an alarming level because of the discharge of untreated, hazardous industrial waste and pesticides into the sea.

During Wednesday’s hearing, the KWSB authorities informed that a sewerage treatment plant at Gutter Baghicha is functioning, but the land for another plant at Mehmoodabad has been illegally encroached upon.

The Kati representatives said that they are ready to install a plant to treat toxic and hazardous industrial waste before dumping it into the sea with the help of the Sindh government. But, the government has yet to provide a piece of land for this purpose, the representative regretted.

The judges directed the Sindh AG to arrange a meeting between the BoR officials and Kati representatives to solve the issue of land allotment and submit the report by Thursday. The bench also directed the director of the S-III Project to appear in court on the next date of hearing.

The bench also directed the DHA administrator, whom the court had also made one of the parties in the proceedings since they own land located on the edge of the sea, to file comments by the next date of hearing. The DHA administrator was directed to explain what measures have been adopted in their territorial jurisdiction to treat the sewerage before it is dumped into the sea.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28th, 2014.

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