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Wasa boss rejects TIB survey on piped water

Report one-sided, he says


FE Report | April 21, 2019 00:00:00


Dismissing the recent TIB report on piped water, the head of Dhaka Wasa claimed that the supply by the state utility agency is 100 per cent "drinkable".

Managing director of the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority Taqsem A Khan questioned the method and authenticity of the Transparency International Bangladesh's survey.

"The TIB report is not researched, it is rather totally hypothetical and devoid of reality," Mr Khan.

His scathing comments came as he spoke at a press conference at Dhaka Reporters' Unity in the capital.

On Wednesday, the anti-sleaze body said city dwellers have to burn gas worth Tk 3.32 billion every year for making Wasa water drinkable.

"Where do bottled and jarred water of Wasa go if its water is not pure and drinkable?" Mr Khan asked.

Terming the study one-sided and ill-motivated, the Wasa boss also said the study was done without any laboratory test.

"We've collected 243 samples from different parts of Dhaka from 11-19 November and found the standard of water satisfactory," Mr Khan insisted.

Sometimes contaminated water is found in old supply line but the authorities fix the problem immediately, he added.

Regarding corruption allegation in relation to online application, the Wasa chief said there is no scope of corruption in online application system for new connections.

The TIB surveyed 2,768 consumers of the state-run utility company, responsible for supplying water in the capital to find that around 62 per cent consumers have suffered irregularities, harassment and corruption.

According to the survey findings, 86.2 per cent of Dhaka Wasa customers had to pay bribe to the agency's officials directly, while 15.8 per cent paid bribe to brokers in order to get service.

Terming the study as fictitious and unrealistic, Mr Khan rejected the statement that people consume Wasa water after boiling.

Referring to the issue of burning natural gas, he said the Wasa earns Tk 4.0 billion by raising revenue and another Tk 2.0 billion by cutting system loss and this was not mentioned in the TIB study.

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