Ineffective: Illegal hydrants continue, so does water crisis

KWSB claims it is doing its best to remove the hydrants but is facing various problems.

KARACHI: Since the drive against illegal water hydrants began in 2013, at least 100 illegal water hydrants have been demolished, according to the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB). Yet the city's water crisis continues.

Water tanker welfare association general-secretary Hazoor Ahmed has the answers.

"KWSB is just demolishing sub-soil water hydrants because they are illegal," he claimed. "However, it is not dealing with the hydrants that steal water from the main lines."



Ahmed added that during KWSB's last meeting with Karachi commissioner Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui, in which KWSB chief engineer Rashid Siddiqui and other officials were also present, it was pointed out that 129 illegal water hydrants are functional but no action was taken against them.

"The KWSB will not demolish these hydrants as they themselves are involved in stealing water" he claimed. "The KWSB vice-chairman Sajid Jokhio informed us that they cannot demolish these hydrants as the hydrants are controlled by the Taliban and a powerful nexus of political mafia. However, this is just an excuse as any action against these illegal hydrants would mean that they no longer receive bribes."

Ahmed added that the drive was started by former local bodies minister Owais Muzaffar but has since stalled and now the KWSB is just involved in what he termed to be a 'newspaper campaign'.

KWSB refutes claims

However, the focal person for the drive against illegal water hydrants Asif Qadri refuted all of Ahmed's claims. "In last month's drive in Nazimabad, we demolished the main tunnel and closed down three main illegal connections," he said. "It proves that the KWSB is sincere in its effort to demolish these water hydrants and illegal connections. The local MPA was also injured during the crackdown. How can someone say then that we are not cracking down on this menace?"

Qadri also highlighted the problems faced by those involved in the drive and said that the water mafia now sends women and children to block the way of the operational team so that they cannot do their job. "We started a crackdown at Baldia today, where 20 hydrants are functional," he claimed. "Hopefully, we will be able to demolish these hydrants by Thursday."

The focal person revealed that a man named Usman Baloch is behind these illegal hydrants and he is selling the stolen water in various parts of the city. "We initiated this drive on the orders of the city commissioner," he said. "The water mafia punctured a main line of the KWSB, which is one of the main reasons that there is a crisis of potable water in the city."

Published in The Express Tribune, September 18^th, 2014.