After taking over the affairs of City District Government Karachi (CDGK), the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-led Sindh government is likely to take control of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board also, by appointing outspoken Sindh Local Government Minister Agha Siraj Durrani as its chairman, Pakistan Today has reliably learnt.
The PPP-led Sindh government also took over the administrative control of CDGK on Tuesday by appointing Durrani as the CDGK caretaker and the notification for appointing Durrani as KWSB head would be issued by the Services, General Administration and Coordination Department very shortly, sources informed Pakistan Today.
“The PPP leadership has decided to appoint the Sindh Local Government Minister as the new KWSB head in a bid to ensure effective performance of the water utility and resolving growing public grievances,” they said.
When contacted, Local Government Department Secretary Ali Ahmed Lund told Pakistan Today that there was no plan to change the present managing director of the water utility; however, the minister would oversee the routine matters of the KWSB until the elections of local bodies are held.
Durrani had created tensions between the PPP and coalition partners Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) after sacking the KWSB managing director in December 2010, citing absence of the official from his office, alleged negligence and failure to address growing complaints of people. However, the issue was resolved by the intervention of the PPP hierarchy.
Interestingly, a veritable war had erupted between then city nazim Mustafa Kamal and Durrani over the jurisdictions of powers on the water utility in 2008. The Sindh government had removed Kamal as the KWSB managing director and replaced him with Durrani. The minister also assumed the office of chairman, which had previously been in the use of the former city nazim, and announced that he would soon cancel 6,000 recruitments made by the caretaker government. The order was also issued for the removal of the city nazim’s name-plate from the chairman’s office.
The MQM had been looking after the administrative affairs of the CDGK through the party’s ministers, especially Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad and leader Raza Haroon, indirectly since the end of tenure of MQM-backed nazim Mustafa Kamal in 2010.
