HYDERABAD: Commissioner Hyderabad division Syed Khalid Haider Shah on Thursday presided over a meeting to address the issue of pending payments of Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA). The meeting was aimed to find out a solution for the recovery of dues from government entities.
During the meeting, the Commissioner emphasized the importance of improving WASA’s recovery mechanisms for outstanding dues. He stressed the need to enhance the efficiency of water supply systems by eliminating 15 percent line losses.
He directed that the District Accounts Office should pass the WASA bills deposited by different departments and organizations soon and no delay would be tolerated.
Deputy Commissioner Hyderabad Tariq Qureshi said that he had called a meeting with the provincial departments and WASA officers to resolve the issue of arrears and asked them to give a detailed report about the data of departments.
Prior, Director Finance of WASA briefed the Commissioner and highlighted the difficulties faced in paying salaries and pensions due to non-payment by government agencies.
He informed that if the salaries were not released by October 10, the employees may call for a strike, therefore the second and third quarter’s funds need to be released to ensure timely payment of salaries and pensions.
He informed that there were dues against federal departments including Railways, WAPDA, Cantonment Board, Sui Southern Gas Company and in provincial departments payments of Police, Livestock, Agriculture, Municipal Corporation, Local Government, Public Health, Works and Services were still pending, however only provincial Health Department is paying bills.
The meeting was attended officials, including Director-General Hyderabad Development Authority Zahid Hussain Shar, Deputy Commissioner Hyderabad Tariq Qureshi, MD WASA Anjum Hussain and municipal and Local Government officers.