| The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday directed the Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC) and Defence Housing Authority to prepare a uniform water supply policy for their residents.
Hearing petitions filed by residents of DHA for supply of water through pipelines in the area and against imposition of additional charges for water supply through tankers, a division bench of the SHC headed by Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi inquired the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC) and CBC counsel why the court orders had not been implemented with regard to water supply to residents.
The KWSC’s counsel submitted that the CBC and DHA’s water supply issue could not be resolved without separating their lines and the cantonment board and KWSC had to work together to resolve the issue.
The high court observed that all civic bodies may give workable solutions for resolving the water supply issue. The petitioners’ counsel submitted that they were not being provided water tankers as per the court directives. They said DHA residents had been discriminated against with regard to water supply as General Colony received sufficient water while adjacent localities were being deprived of it.
The high court directed the KWSC, DHA and CBC to find out a solution to improve the regular water supply to the residents of the DHA through normal water pipeline connections. The bench directed the cantonment board to prepare a uniform water supply policy for its residents. It also directed the CBC to submit a report with regard to installations of water meters at the residences.
The SHC directed the stakeholders to convene a meeting for arriving at a workable solution and submit the compliance report on the next hearing. The KWSC chief executive had earlier submitted that the total bulk supply of 9 million gallons per day (MGD) was not being supplied to the CBC on account of water shortage as only 5 MGD was being supplied.
He submitted that serious efforts were being taken to stop leakage and theft of water from the mainline between the pumping station and Chakra Goth and FIRs had been registered against such theft.
He said such steps by the corporation would be helpful in increasing the water supply to the residents of DHA and reducing the water shortage in the area. CBC and DHA officials submitted that efforts were being made to supply water to the residents of DHA and as per orders of the court, five bowsers per month were being supplied to the petitioners and other residents of DHA.
It is pertinent to mention that the high court had earlier directed the KWSC to submit reports on the water supply mechanism in different areas of DHA and Clifton, storage capacity of DHA as well as the timetable of water supply to the cantonment board. The petitioners had submitted that the cantonment board was charging Rs2,886 to 108,219 for residential houses and Rs4,040 to Rs61,612 for commercial units under annual water tax.
They submitted that the high court had already adjudicated the issue with regard to supply of water and the cantonment board’s responsibility, and observed that in case of failure to supply water, the CBC disentitled itself from charging, claiming or collecting water tax from the residents. The petitioners submitted that no water meters had been installed by the respondents and water tax was being charged as per the size of the property, not per the quantity of water being consumed.
They submitted that the CBC was providing roughly 30 per cent water of the total need of its residents and charging onerous levies and additional costs against the same. They submitted that all the residents of DHA and CBC were burdened not only with onerous charges by the cantonment board and even then, they were not being provided sufficient amount of water. |
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