HYDERABAD: The President of Hyderabad Chamber of Small Traders and Small Industry (HCSTSI) Muhammad Farooq Shaikhani has urged the provincial government to take some urgent and decisive measures to overcome the challenges plaguing the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA).
In a letter addressed to the Sindh Chief Secretary Syed Asif Hyder Shah the chamber’s president pointed out that around 2,500 contract employees, many of whom were considered ghost workers, had become a burden on the agency.
According to him, the statistics about those contractual staff were disclosed by the officials of WASA in a meeting some months ago with former caretaker Sindh Chief Minister justice (r) Maqbool Baqar.
Shaikhani also referred to a shocking number of over 50,000 illegal water supply connections in the city which were denying revenue collection to WASA while simultaneously contributing to water theft.
He suggested that the ghost staff should be replaced with privately hired sanitary workers and 4 of those workers should
be attached to each of the 96 Union Committees in Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (HMC).
He went on to propose that in order to ensure attendance of the employees a biometric system should be installed in WASA.
Shaikhani emphasized on the need of establishing a board comprising private water experts and representatives from the business community to maintain oversight over WASA’s operations.
The HCSTSI’s President also underscored the crucial need to appoint a magistrate vested with the authority to penalize offenders involved in illegal connections, water supply misuse and other infractions.
He contended that such a measure would instill accountability and deterrence within the system, ensuring fair and just enforcement of the regulations.
Shaikhani said WASA also ought to set up a consumer complaint center, conduct annual audits and computerize its financial transactions.
He requested the government to allocate additional annual funds to WASA so that it could meet the growing demands of Hyderabad’s bu
rgeoning population.
These funds, he said, should be utilized for vital infrastructure projects of water supply, sewage treatment and the development of filter plants and for buying and maintaining motors, generators and diesel supply systems.
Shaikhani also suggested that the water supply and drainage in Cantonment Board and SITE areas should be entrusted to WASA.
The Chamber’s President drew the Chief Secretary’s attention to the critical problem of polluting Indus river and its canals by releasing municipal, commercial and industrial wastewater without treatment.
Shaikhani said the potential of public-private partnership should be availed to help WASA improve its performance and that the age-old working methods should be replaced with technology-based operations.