Despite paying huge taxes and water charges, the people of Karachi do not have access to adequate water supply, and are heavily dependent on the tanker mafia to meet their requirements.
To make things worse, there have been numerous occasions when even the city’s already minimal water supply gets suspended for days at a stretch. The main water supply line to the city was broken three times in the last couple of months.
While households do not get a drop of water during such phases, somehow the tanker mafia continues to get uninterrupted, if not increased, water supply to mint money, charging twice the normal rate.
In such a grim scenario, the reaction of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC) is lamentable. Every time, repair work means suspension of water supply for at least a week. Besides, the responsibility for these incidents is never fixed.
A few months ago, there was much talk about the Sindh government’s plan to declare Karachi as a ‘sister city’ of New York. Just the proposal was a cruel joke with the people of the city.
The provincial government needs to address Karachi’s growing problems before even thinking about associating it with any city in the developed world.
Truly, the provision of adequate drinking water should be the foremost priority of the government. All possible avenues to enhance water supply to the city, including the completion of the delayed K-IV project and installation of desalination plants, should be tapped.
AAMIR MALIK
KARACHI
