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APRIL
2009
ISSUES:
EIA
report faces criticism for its resettlement action plan
The
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report of the revival of Karachi
Circular Railway (KCR) project has elicited criticism against its
proposed resettlement action plan for the affected, whose study has yet
to be undertaken by the project proponent.
Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) has sponsored the Special
Assistance for Project Formation (SAPROF) study of the project. On the
basis of the afore-mentioned feasibility reports, the project was
requested for finance under soft-term Japanese ODA loan from the
Government of Japan. According to Karachi Urban Transport Company (KUTC)
officials, the study for the required Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) of
the KCR project is a prerequisite for Jica’s consideration of the loan
in accordance with its guidelines for confirmation of environmental and
social consideration.
Rana Mohammad Sadiq, secretary of All Pakistan Alliance for Katchi
Abadis (Apaka), has cast the first stone by submitting written comments
to Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) prior to the public
hearing of the EIA report on Revival of KCR on April 18 at Federation
House. “Standardised demarcation of the right of way for the KCR is
the need of the hour, as double standards with regard to varying length
of the right of way would create more problems,” Sadiq adds. “The
EIA report does not subscribe to a formula as what should be the
appropriate right of way.”
In its objection to the proposed RAP, the Apaka has raised some
fundamental questions. The letter of objection says that the EIA report
was not available in national language for all stakeholders, including
commoners. “We demand to make the KCR map public just to have an
informed discussion.”
With regard to RAP, the Apaka letter says that the land required for the
resettlement of affected residents has not been specified. “The EIA
report claims that the project will hit 6,000 houses whose occupants are
expected to be compensated as per the policy adopted for Lyari
Expressway.”
Sadiq questioned the number of 6,000 would-be-affected houses. If the
survey conducted and reported by the divisional superintendent of
Pakistan Railway Karachi in 2003 is any lead, then the estimated number
of would-be-affected houses will be more than 15,000. Quoting a Citizens’
Forum on Karachi Circular Railway’s survey, Sadiq said the appropriate
distance from the tracks to the built-up area should be between 25 and
30 feet. “We need to know the exact range of the right of way followed
by census of the houses to be affected by the KCR project,” he
maintained.
A survey conducted by Urban Resource Centre (URC) in 2005 reveals that
the 72 per cent of the area on either side of the KCR tracks is occupied
by commercial plazas, multi-storied residential apartments, bungalows,
institutional buildings, shopping centres, factories, warehouses and
petrol pumps. The remaining 28 per cent of the area on either side of
the KCR tracks is occupied by low-income settlements and Katchi Abadis.
Along the mainline from City to Landhi stations, the built-up areas are
at an average distance of about 20 to 60 feet from the tracks. Along the
circular tracks the distance is from 15 to 40 feet.
“In many developed countries the right of way (distance from the
tracks to the built-up area) is between 25 to 30 feet...in Japan, where
trains travel at very high speed the distance is 30 feet,” says the
URC survey. “...to make the KCR’s revitalisation successful...the
right of way should be of 25 to 30 feet distance.”
URC Director Muhammad Younus was also critical of the ambiguity meted
out to the resettlement plan in the EIA report on the revival of KCR.
“This (KCR) is a viable project but badly needs an integrated
transport system to get along well,” he added. “Karachi needs to be
recognised as it stands today.” According to Younus, the existing
proposed KCR loop needs extension to cover the city in its entirety,
otherwise the six kilometre extension to put Jinnah Terminal on the KCR
loop won’t serve the project very well.
Younus also believed that transparency has been missing from the project
plan. For instance, the EIA report submitted by the KUTC for the KCR
project lacks specific information about the precise number of houses
affected by the project and list of their inhabitants. “We have the
case of Lyari Expressway, whose resettlement plan is a failure because
the affected people have yet to be compensated.
(By
Asadullah, The News-20, 17/04/2009)
KCR
can’t be implemented before resettlement of 2,600 families
Stakeholders
at a public hearing pertaining to the revival of circular railways in
the city on Saturday realised that the problem of about 2,600 illegally
built houses on the Pakistan Railways land needs to be addressed before
the project is implemented.
Experts as well as some representatives of the residents living on
railway land urged the holders of the public hearing, the Sindh
Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa), not to give any clearance to the
re-launching of the circular railway project till a resettlement plan
for the people living or doing any business in the houses in question is
finalised and implemented prior to the construction phase of the
project.
A project (Karachi Circular Railway Revival) aimed at overcoming the
problem of congestion on the roads of Karachi, which causes direct
economic losses through the time wasted on commuting, traffic accidents
and environmental amenity, has been proposed by the Karachi Urban
Transport Corporation (KUTC), a public limited company.
The city of Karachi, which today has a population of around 18 million
people, with about 1,500,000 vehicles registered with the excise and
taxation department of the government, used to have a meaningful
circular railway operation till 1999.
A cessation study of the KCR reveals that the reasons behind the
termination of the original KCR were as follows: lack of punctuality and
low frequency of trains, inadequate rail-road integration and lack of
investment in rail infrastructure.
The original KCR began operation in 1964 and ran from Drigh Road to
Wazir Mansion station.
Till December 1999, the KCR had a track section of 30 kilometres, in
addition to 14 kilometres of mainline section.
Now, according to the proponents of the revival project, they will
restore the status of KCR as a viable system with the aim of relieving
congestion by reducing the use of roads by commuters, especially on
corridors within the KCR circle where the process of urbanisation has
had an adverse impact on land use. The KUTC wants to facilitate safe,
secure and speedy inlet and outlet from the CBD to other corridors of
vehicular traffic, including the RCD Highway, Northern Bypass, Southern
Bypass, Port Qasim, Steel Mills, National Highway (N5) and Superhighway
(E9), besides providing links to the Lyari Expressway, said the
environmental impact assessment (EIA) report under scrutiny.
It has also been proposed that Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) trains be
introduced to increase the traveling speed and acceleration and
deceleration speeds, in addition to the realisation of the original
double track railway idea for the KCR and elevation of certain sections
of the railway route to avert traffic jams and accidents at the existing
level crossings of KCR.
Plan to implement project by 2013
In
order to provide rail services to the Karachi International Airport, the
KCR will be extended up to the airport in the second phase of the
revival project. Thus the total length of the KCR would be about 50km,
for which some new alignment; new construction of railway stations and
depots; fresh laying of dual tracks; construction of transportation
plazas at some points; and rolling of lightweight trains with reduced
noise and vibration and high energy efficiency and lower maintenance
costs for the track would be undertaken at different stages.
If things go as planned, the first section from Karachi City to
Liaquatabad Station (the western section of the KCR circular section of
about 17km) would be ready in 2010 to carry about 0.181 million
passengers from one place to another every day, said Aijaz H Khilji, the
managing director of KUTC.
The second section from Liaquatabad station to Drigh Road station (the
eastern section of the KCR circular section of 12.4km) will be
operational, along with access to the airport. The entire train system,
planned to run 247 trains to carry about 0.648 million passengers every
day in 2013, is likely to cost an amount equal to US$1.5 billion.
The participants were told that government of Japan was ready to provide
a soft-loan with a mark up of 0.2 per cent for the purpose, which would
be refundable in 40 years. Signatures on an agreement by the governments
of Pakistan and Japan may take place in December this year.
The KUTC board of directors will include four directors from Pakistan
Railways, two from the government of Sindh and two from the Karachi city
government.
Environmental damage mitigation measures planned
The
environmental consultants for the project maintained that during the
construction of the project, dust emission could worsen the quality of
the ambient air, while noise and vibration due to construction activity
could affect local residents.
However, mitigation measures have already been planned to overcome the
situation, said Nadeem Arif, representing the consultants, adding that
the project would not have any negative impact on air quality, while a
barrier wall will also be erected along the track at certain places to
mitigate the noise problem.
The director of Sepa, Naeem Mughal, directed the consultants to further
conduct research on the prevalent air quality in the proposed
construction and operational areas of the project.
It was further said that the revival of Karachi circular railway would
not only revitalise Karachi and help to solve its traffic problem, but
it would also help reduce the quantity of airborne contaminants, like
CO2 and NOX.
A big chunk of time given for questions was consumed both by public
representatives from the areas to be affected due to proposed plans and
the proponents of the project.
Katchi abadi residents angered
Peoples
coming from katchi abadis developed on the Pakistan Railways’ land
were of the view that the authorities planned to dislocate thousands of
poor people living in katchi abadis along the land near the tracks and
obsolete stations and kick them out of the prime city lands, despite the
fact that under a 1985 presidential order they all deserved
regularisation of their houses and a lease of the questioned land in
their names.In the garb of “right of way”, the proponents now want
to get the railway’s land vacated for lucrative earnings, which is
highly unacceptable to the poor masses living along the railway track.
“We would not retreat at any cost till the time government ensures an
honorary and acceptable resettlement plan,” said a couple of the
emotionally charged speakers, who also held a demonstration outside the
public hearing location.
The residents in question added that about 70 per cent of the area on
either side of the KCR’s track was occupied by commercial plazas,
multi-storied residential apartments, institutional buildings, shopping
centres, factories, godowns and petrol pumps, which never provoked the
railway authorities for any legal action.
However, an adviser to the Prime Minister, Mirza Akhtiar Beg and Shakeel
Ahmad Hashmi, the director general of Sepa, assured the representatives
that the interests of the katchi abadis in question would also be
considered while implementing the project.
The KUTC’s MD, Mr Khilji, said that there could be no uniform
definition of “right of way” (distance from the track and built up
area) in the case of the KCR in view of the ground realities, but he
could assure the affected people that land would be acquired at the
minimum, only for laying of the dual tracks of a lesser width.
“Teams of proponents will definitely visit the people feared to be
affected due to the project to work out the modalities needed for
shifting, relocation or rehabilitation of the people,” he
added.Discussing the resettlement measures for squatters, the EIA
reports in question said that a large number of households had been
residing for a considerable length of time on the lands and based on the
laws and regulations of the country, some resettlement areas could be
sought for the affected people in order to clear the existing ‘right
of way’ for the KCR project. Responding to a question, the proponents
maintained that the entire operation of the trains would consume about
50MW of electricity per day, which would be offset by the proponents in
the shape of generating electricity through their IPPs, which would be
linked to the national power grid.
(Dawn,
17/04/2009)
Road
accident deaths rise by 33pc in a year
More
than 1,100 people lost their lives in road accidents during 2008 in
different parts of the city, an alarming increase of 33 per cent over 12
months, mainly because of the unawareness of pedestrians, the
non-existence of pedestrian bridges at sensitive road crossings and
serious violations of traffic rules, mostly by commercial transport
drivers. An annual report titled “Road Casualties Karachi 2008”
issued by the Road Traffic Injury Research & Prevention Centre at
the Jinnah Postgraduate and Medical Centre (JPMC) some time back
revealed some astonishing facts, which suggested that every seventh
person among 100,000 Karachiites who died last year was killed in a road
accident.
“Around 20 data items are collected from each of the trauma centres,
including the demographics, time of the accident, location of the
accident, vehicles involved and information relating to the immediate
causes of accident, injury status of the casualties are assessed on the
international injury scaling system of Abbreviated Injury Score (AIS)
and Revised Trauma Score (RTS) and graded accordingly by the research
assistants present in the emergency [department],” said Syed Ameer
Hussain, the centre’s programme manager.
He said the information of the accident was verified by GIS
(Geographical Information System) from different sources including the
police and NGOs like Edhi and Chippa, thus making it easier for the
authorities to make decisions that will make Karachi’s roads safer for
both drivers and pedestrians.
The report suggested that in 2008, the city’s roads witnessed a total
of 26,752 accidents, which injured a total of 32,497 people and killed
1,185. One of the most alarming facts which was put on record by the
centre in the report is the ratio of fatalities, which increased by 33
per cent in 2008 as compared with 2007.
“In the adult age group of 16-60, 82 per cent fatalities were
observed, while 82 per cent were observed in serious cases,” said the
report, adding that both motorcycle riders and pedestrians remained the
main victims of accidents, as their fatalities accounted for nearly 40
per cent of the total deaths caused during 2008 in road accidents.
Though the centre suggested strong enforcement and engineering measures
that could be prioritised and followed to reduce injuries and fatalities
on particular segments, it named some 41 road crossings “black spots”,
which had been termed as “high-profile frequent accident-prone
locations.”
In this area of assessment, the report found Korangi Road and Main
Korangi as the most dangerous, where 21 and 12 deaths were reported
respectively due to road accidents during 2008. Similarly, roads around
Jinnah and Native Jetty Bridges also emerged as accident-prone
locations, where 12 deaths were recorded in 12 months while 11 fatal
accidents were witnessed on a road leading from Sohrab Goth to Super
Highway. The report cited several reasons behind the rising trend of
accidents and also suggested the authorities address key issues to
reduce accidents.
“High profile frequent accident-prone locations or black spots are
communicated to the concerned stakeholders and quarterly reports are
published to evaluate and assess the gravity of the Road Traffic Injury
situation on the ground,” said Mr Hussain, the programme manager at
the Road Traffic Injury Research & Prevention Centre. He said road
safety engineers deputed to the JPMC conduct road safety audits and
inspections, and also identify and derive intervention strategies in
consultation with staff at the NED University of Engineering and
Technology. The sites of major accidents are also examined, and the
causes of the accident investigated.
“The centre is a joint collaborative effort of the JPMC, NED
University of Engineering & Technology and Aga Khan University
Hospital and is approved by the federal ministry of health,” added Mr
Hussain.
(Dawn,
04/04/2009)
Karachi
is the eighth noisiest city in the world
Karachi
is ranked eighth in world figures for noise pollution, as noise in the
city ranges between 95 decibels and 110 decibels against the recommended
level of 85 decibels.
This data on noise pollution was shared at a seminar titled ‘Rising
pollution – Who is responsible’ which was organised at the Arts
Council of Pakistan (ACP) by the National Forum for Environment and
Health (NFEH) in collaboration with Medical and Social Welfare Committee
of the ACP on Wednesday to mark the Earth Day. Speakers said that
Karachi is ranked number one in noise pollution in the country, and
residents of the city generate 9,000 metric tons of waste, of which only
50 per cent is properly disposed of, while the rest is burnt in open
spaces. About 55,000 people are dying every year in the country due to
various diseases caused by air pollution, which is also inflicting a
loss of Rs90 billion on national exchequer, they added. In his keynote
address, the chief guest Dr Sajid Husain said we have collectively
damaged our natural resources, and seemed to be indifferent and
apathetic towards environment. He said that mankind had ruthlessly
polluted the environment by ignoring the principle of sustainable
development, and has carelessly utilised natural resources.
Prominent environmentalist Dr Sami-uz-Zaman said that both the Malir and
Lyari rivers, which were the source of fresh water supply, have now been
polluted beyond limits due to the discharge of industrial effluent.
Zaman underlined the need for stringent guidelines to be issued to
industries and municipal organisations.
NEFH President Naeem Qureshi said that 35 per cent of more than 1.7
million vehicles plying on Karachi’s roads are defected, while
environmental pollution is causing diseases such as cancer, dermatitis
and mental disorders. The seminar adopted a resolution which called upon
the state’s environmental departments to expedite pollution control
efforts. They also called upon the government to give representation to
environment-related NGOs in federal and provincial environmental
protection agencies, and added that their performance should be brought
before the nation.
(The
News, 24/04/2009)
KESC’s
Privatisation
HUGE
question marks hung over KESC’s privatisation when the utility changed
hands in November 2005. Many asked if national assets of strategic
importance, irrespective of their financial viability, ought to be
handed over to a foreign firm. In a developing country, it was further
argued, supplying power to the people must remain the responsibility of
the state. Ignored sometimes in this debate was one of the key reasons
why KESC should not have been privatised. Privatisation works, overall
capacity is enhanced and consumers receive better service when the firm
being sold faces competition. It is grave folly to create a
private-sector monopoly seemingly answerable to no one. If the logistics
of the power sector did not permit breaking up KESC into independent
units, then the utility should have been left in government hands.
Without any competitors, KESC could get away with anything — and it
did. Little was done to increase generation capacity or check
transmission and distribution losses which, according to KESC, stood at
over 32 per cent in July-December 2008. Generation was reduced to a
fraction of the installed capacity as poorly maintained units frequently
broke down. The company’s management was appalling and its technical
base weak. As a result, prolonged spells of loadshedding inflicted
untold misery on homes, businesses and industrial units alike. Billions
were lost as production routinely came to a standstill. Not
surprisingly, power riots broke out in Karachi on a number of occasions.
Clearly no excuse can be made for KESC’s abysmal performance since
2005. Yet, Thursday’s demand by the Karachi City Council that KESC’s
privatisation be reversed seems unrealistic and perhaps misses the
point. What is done is done. Reversing KESC’s privatisation — or, in
effect, nationalising the power utility — is next to impossible
despite support for such a move. Beset by terrorism and political
instability, today’s Pakistan is hardly a popular destination for
foreign capital. Given where we stand, the government can ill afford to
nullify standing privatisation deals and give potential investors yet
another reason to stay away. Then there is the question of finances. Can
a severely cash-strapped government take over KESC and pump in the funds
needed to turn the organisation around? Then there is the fact that
massive loadshedding is also the norm in the rest of the country where
electricity is still supplied by state-owned utilities. Demand for power
is growing by the year and no supplier is being able to cope. The answer
lies in increasing generation capacity, checking line losses and, in the
case of Pakistan’s sole private supplier, greater regulatory control.
(Source:
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/editorial/kescs-privatisation)
‘Not
a single water sample in Karachi found potable’
Of
the 2,000 water samples collected over a period of 20 years from
different parts of the city, none have proved to be fit for human
consumption, revealed a detailed study conducted by Prof Dr Syed Jamil
Hasan Kazmi and Ihsanullah Khattak of Department of Geography,
University of Karachi (KU).
During an interview with The News, Dr Kazmi disclosed that
Eutrophication (a pollution problem) in Haleji Lake and Keenjhar Lake
– one of the major sources of water for Karachi – has led to
increased contamination of water that is now unfit for drinking.
Eutrophication is an increase in chemical nutrients, compounds
containing nitrogen or phosphorus that may occur in land or water and
results in lack of oxygen and severe reductions in water quality, fish
and other animal populations. Due to the release of untreated sewage
effluent and run-off from fertilizers into natural waters, water from
what were once known as the ‘fresh water lakes’ can no longer be
consumed. The study was conducted with the assistance of researchers
from the Department of Geology and the quality of water was examined
from diverse areas stretching from Gulshan to Gadap Town. “Among other
areas were Federal B. Area, North Karachi and squatter settlements,”
informed Dr Kazmi. Samples from the Hub Dam, which supplies around 20 to
25 per cent water to the city, were also found to be contaminated.
He
explained that the quality of water in the Hub Dam and other lakes were
examined through the standard Most Potable Number Technique (MPN)
method. However, water from all the samples failed to meet the WHO
(World Health Organisation) guidelines for bacteriological quality of
drinking water, which means that the most important water resources are
grossly polluted with organisms of public health importance. “This
poses a potential threat to the people consuming water from the area,”
added Dr Kazmi.
For the study, water samples were collected in pre-sterilised bottles
for the bacteriological analysis of Total Coliforms Count (TCC), Total
Faecal Coliforms Count (TFC) and Total Faecal Streptococci (TFS) and
sent to the Institute of Environmental Studies at KU for examination.
“All the samples were found to be contaminated with these organisms,
which are of public health importance and a continuous source of ailment
in the local people,” said the study.
In the case of Gadap Town, the research team’s found that the highest
recorded amount of nitrates in the water samples was only about 0.9mg
per litre whereas according to the WHO recommended standards the amount
of nitrates should be about 50mg per litre. “This deficiency of a
dangerous extent further highlights how our drinking water is grossly
polluted.”
The Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) however claim that the water
it supplies is free from bacterial contaminants, despite findings by
NGOs and other agencies like the Institute of Environmental Studies
prove otherwise. When questioned, Dr. Kazmi explained that the
discrepancy could be due to the sample collection from different sources
and because sampling techniques and method of analysis differ. “The
KWSB infrastructure is also quite old which is why water in the
distribution pipelines often gets contaminated,” said Dr Kazmi, adding
that he was shocked at the government’s indifference towards the
issue. “Urbanisation and environmental changes are a major threat to
water resources. Unless drinking water supplies become free from
contamination, there is little hope of controlling communicable diseases
in the population. The sooner we realise the more deaths can be
prevented.”
Samples collected from various sources of water supply to Karachi
S.No. Sample Tag Location TCC TFC TFS Remarks
1 S1 Hub Dam 900 - - UNFHC
2
S2 Zaidi Farm 400 - - UNFHC
3
S3 NA 900 - - UNFHC
4
S4 Lasbela Canal 1500 - - UNFHC
1
S1 Hub Reservoir 4300 9 – UNFHC
2
S2 Hub Reservoir 1500 <3 – UNFHC
3
S3 Hub Reservoir 2300 21 – UNFHC
4
S4 Hub Reservoir 150 240 – UNFHC
5
S5 Hub Reservoir 28 28 – UNFHC
6
S6 Hub Reservoir 900 23 – UNFHC
7
S7 Hub Reservoir 4000 23 – UNFHC
8
S8 Hub Reservoir 2200 19 – UNFHC
1 S1 Khar 2400 1100 <3 UNFHC
2
S2 Khar Centre 2400 1100 <3 UNFHC
3
S3 KNP 2400 1100 <3 UNFHC
4
S4 Haji Imam Buksh 460 <3 <3 UNFHC
5
S5 Goth Rabo 2400 1100 <3 UNFHC
6
S6 Hub Dam 43 <3 <3 UNFHC
7
S7 Karachi Canal 240 <3 <3 UNFHC
8
S8 Hub Dam Colony 240 43 <3 UNFHC
9
S9 Lasbela Canal 240 150 <3 UNFHC
10
S10 Karachi Canal 150 43 <3 UNFHC
TCC Total Coliforms Count TFC Total Faecal Coliforms Count
TFS
Total Faecal Streptococci UNFHC Unfit for Human Consumption
(By
Aroosa Masroor, The News, 01/04/2009)
Three
minors perish in two shanty fires
Three
children lost their lives in two incidents of fire in Gulistan-e-Jauhar
on Friday.
In the first incident, thirty shanties were burnt in Pehalwan Goth,
Block 12. Two-and-a-half-year-old Shehla, daughter of Nadeem, was also
burnt to death.
The fire department said that the fire was reported around 11.30 am, and
three tenders were duly dispatched to the scene. However, they were
unable to save the girl or the three shanties. Officials said that when
they got there, the fire seemed to have been raging for some time, and
it seemed that they had been informed late about the fire. In another
incident, fire fighters scrambled to fight blaze at 2.05 pm in Railway
Society, near Jauhar roundabout, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Block 19. Three
shanties were gutted in the fire, and two minors, one-year-old Masood
and two-year-old Misbah, lost their lives.
Their father Shakoor was not present at the time. The fire department
said that they dispatched two fire tenders within a minute of receiving
the report. Neither the area police nor the fire department could
ascertain the cause of the fire.
In both incidents, Chhipa volunteers shifted the bodies to the Jinnah
Postgraduate Medical College (JPMC) for legal formalities.
(The
News, 11/04/2009)
Why
major consumers of KWSB pay small water bills
The
Karachi Water and Sewerage Board is being cheated by a number of its
major bulk consumers, which consume huge quantities of water but get
away with nominal payments for the supplies, a well-placed source in the
water utility told Dawn.
Citing examples of a number of those bulk consumers who consumed huge
quantities of water but paid meagre amounts as water charges, the
sources said the monthly water bill of the Export Processing Zone
Authority (EPZA), which has an 18-inch diameter connection and where
more that 200 industries are operational, ranged from Rs1.6 to Rs1.8
million. In contrast, the average monthly water bill of a single
company, Engro Asahi, also having a water connection of 18-inch diameter
and situated in Port Qasim Authority’s area, was Rs7 million to Rs8
million.
Similarly, the monthly water bill of another bulk consumer, Indus
Refinery, located near Ghaggar Phatak, which too has an 18-inch diameter
connection, ranges from Rs7 million to Rs8 million, the source pointed
out, adding that it was beyond comprehension how the EPZA, which has 200
industries on its premises, could be consuming water worth only Rs1.6
million and Rs1.8 million a month. The sources suspected that some of
the 200 industries set up in the zone might have taken illegal
connections from the utility’s conduit, getting water round the clock
to meet their water needs.
Referring to another major bulk consumer, the Karachi Port Trust, about
which KWSB officials suspected was paying much less as water charges
against the consumption of the liquid, the sources said that though the
KPT had 13 water connections, nine of them were shown as disconnected
and, as such, its monthly water bill from the remaining four water
connections of 12 inches, nine inches and two of six inches each, stood
between Rs400,000 and Rs500,000 only.
“Isn’t it shocking that a large organisation like the KPT, which has
a huge complex of offices, 60 berths, many large warehouses and some
commercial concerns on its land has been consuming water amounting to
mere Rs400,000 and Rs500,000 per month?” said a senior official of the
KWSB.
In support of his contention that the EPZA and the KPT consumed huge
quantities of water as against the peanuts they paid to the KWSB, the
sources wondered how it was possible that the monthly water bills of the
EPZA, having a water connection of 18-inch diameter, and the KPT with
four water connections (two of six inches diameter each, one of nine
inches and one of 12 inches) could on an average be from Rs1.6 million
to Rs1.8 million and from Rs400,000 to Rs500,000 when the monthly water
charges bill of another bulk consumer (Pakland Cement Factory), which
has got a water connection of only three inches diameter, came to around
Rs1.1 million.
Terming the practice of using huge quantities of water by some major
bulk consumers and paying meagre amounts as water charges “a big
racket”, officials well-versed with the water distribution system of
the city did not rule out the possibility of KWSB officials’
involvement in it, saying that unless a high-level inquiry was ordered
to expose such elements, the KWSB’s financial position would continue
to deteriorate.
(Daily
Dawn, 27/03/2009)
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