KARACHI: The Supreme Court has banned water connections to newly-constructed residential and commercial buildings with more than two storeys, Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) Managing Director Hashim Raza told Daily Times. He added that the court has also warned that executive engineers and KWSB officials would be punished if found in violating orders. The SC has instructed that ban would remain enforced until the water shortage issue has been settled. All officials concerned of the civic body have also been ordered to stop execution of new water connections in pipelines. Meanwhile, Hasan Bakhshi, senior vice chairman Association of Builders and Developers (ABAD), said that ABAD members would discuss the matter with the Water Commission. “This new situation will bring difficulties to civil construction sector builders and there should a way out in order to save builders and developers from financial loss on on-going building projects.” “A great responsibility lies on the shoulders of city water management to gear up the velocity to complete ongoing drinking water schemes besides finding new avenues of water on war footings,” he opined. He appealed to the city conduit water supply bodies to take concrete steps to fix water leakages as well as water thieves. Presently, Karachi received 650MGD drinking water against an 11MGD demand. In the last 10 years not a single gallon of water has been added to overcome water crisis.
