The cash-strapped Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) has decided to recover outstanding dues of at least Rs 303 million pending since 2001 from its ‘special consumers’ mainly comprising industrialists and farmhouse owners.
Acting KWSB chairman MPA Haji Munawar Ali Abbasi told Pakistan Today that due to lower recovery in the recent past, the water utility is facing an acute financial crisis. In order to make the recovery drive successful, a meeting of the KWSB officials was held on July 12 during which orders were issued to speed up the drive to recover outstanding dues from the defaulters within a few days.
The arrears pending since 2001 have touched Rs 303 million due to non-cooperation of the now-defunct City District Government Karachi (CDGK)’s staff and apathy of the authorities concerned. Now efforts are being made to recover the highest possible amount, lowering the financial burden on the KWSB.
The term ‘special consumer’ is used for those industrialists and owners of farmhouses, hotels, water parks, poultry farms and cattle farms, who have not bothered to pay a single paisa to the water utility. Whereas, the term ‘local consumer’ is used for citizens residing in goth schemes (slum settlements) that are not the KWSB’s priority, as the water consumption by them is very low.
Informing Pakistan Today about the details of defaulters, Abbasi said around 18 hotels, 171 poultry farms, 63 cattle farms, 21 farmhouses and many industries have not paid their water utility bills for a long period.
“The KWSB will take action against all [defaulters] on immediate basis, maybe within two or three days by launching an effective drive. The goth schemes are involved in illegal water connections but presently the priority has been given to the special consumers,” disclosed Abbasi.
