Life of Nazir Ahmed Wattoo | Anjuman Samaji Behbood

FORMATION AND EVOLUTION OF ASB

The formation and evolution of the ASB is Nazir Ahmed Wattoo. He was born in 1944
in Dhuddiwala where his family have been farmers since 1882. However, he has not
followed his family profession. He got a diploma in electrical works from the local
polytechnic, and then worked as an electrician for 12 years. He supplemented this
income at different times by working as a stationery supplier, general contractor and
an editor of a magazine. At present, apart from being the coordinator of the ASB,
he has shares in an automobile workshop.

As the problems of Dhuddiwala increased due to urbanisation, Nazir Wattoo
motivated a few like-minded and educated young people to form a welfare
organisation. The team consisted of four primary school-mates of Nazir Ahmed
Wattoo, a high school graduate and a tailoring shop owner. The organisation was
registered under the name of Anjuman Samaji Bebhood (ASB) and the tailoring shop was used as its office. The expenses for stationery, postage and registration were collected as donations from the team members. Soon the fund proved to be inadequate and the team started depending on donations and charity given by the notables of the area. These funds were used for arranging receptions for political representatives, influential bureaucrats, and technocrats of line agencies. In these receptions speeches were made in their honour; they were garlanded; beverage and food was arranged for them; and they were presented with requests for water supply, sewerage, drainage, electricity and social sector facilities for the area and its inhabitants. In response, these dignitaries promised these facilities and more, but nothing concrete and sustainable, came of it. This practice became a habit and encouraged them to rely on funds from area politicians for running their organisation, in return for which they supported one or another political candidate or party. Thousands of anjumans operate in this manner in Pakistan.

Since the lobbying process was not successful in bringing development to Dhuddiwala, the ASB also undertook development work with community funds. This work included solid waste management, cleaning of streets and the construction of open drains. It was from these experiences that the ASB identified sewage disposal and water supply as the most urgent problems facing Dhuddiwala and its neighbouring settlements. However, ASB’s development work was never successful because it was expensive and technically faulty and did not function properly. This created distrust between ASB and the communities who felt that the ASB had robbed them. Soon, development work had to be abandoned.

A time came, when most of the time of the ASB began to be spent in organising political rallies, campaigning for elections and spreading propaganda against their actual or perceived political opponents. These activities resulted in bad relations between the ASB and other NGOs and civic agencies working within Dhuddiwala. To overcome these conflicts, Nazir Ahmed Wattoo decided to contest the elections to the Faisalabad Municipal Corporation (FMC) council, first in 1979 and then again in 1984. He lost both times.

Faisalabad city consists of chak numbers, or numbered villages, which have become
urbanised over time. The layout of these chaks was planned in 1885. The original
city is Chak number 212 and the area consisting of Peoples Colony, Madina Town and
Kohinoor Textile Mill area is Chak number 213. Chak number 214 consists of 94
murabas, of these one is Dhuddiwala East and the other is Dhuddiwala West. The
rest of the murabas were agricultural land. Land in Dhuddiwala and the chak itself
was owned by three bradries or clans. These were the Wattoos, the Kamonkas and
the Balas. With the two murabas that constitute Dhuddiwala, the government had reserved land for expansion. On some of this land refugees settled at the time of partition along with a few families coming from the rural areas. These settlers were permitted to settle free of cost by the Chaudhries, or leaders of the clan, for humanitarian reasons. Due to this, and later developments, the population of Dhuddiwala has increased from 500 in 1947 to 8,080 in 1999.
According to the senior citizens of Dhuddiwala, after 1955, rural urban migration into Faisalabad increased because of the setting up of industries. The two large industrial units, National Silk Mill and Kohinoor Mill were put up adjacent to Dhuddiwala. As a result, mill workers and their families started acquiring land from the Chaudhries, initially on lease and rent and later on purchase. On purchase too, the land was paid for in instalments. Ground water in Dhuddiwala was brackish but the Chaudhries bored a deep well and they were lucky to find potable water. A tap was fitted on the bore and water was made free for all. As a result, more migrants started to settle in and around Dhuddiwala so as to have easy access to potable water. The Chaudhries simply sold the land and laid out the main streets. Lanes, plots, open spaces, were all arranged by the people themselves. Most of the plots were between two and four marlas. There were no middlemen involved in this development as there are today. Hasanpura and Rasool Nagar are two settlements that developed on the Dhuddiwala agricultural lands.

Till the early 1960s, Dhuddiwala and its adjoining settlements used the open fields as latrines and water either came from the deep bore or from irrigation channels. However, when the settlements densified, using the fields was no longer convenient, especially for women, and the irrigation channels also started to get polluted. As a result, by the late 60s, over 50 per cent of the households had built soak pits and installed hand pumps in their homes. But the water table in Dhuddiwala kept rising as a result of water-logging and soon the soak pits started overflowing into the streets and diseases and environmental degradation increased. The government’s anti water-logging programme consisted of installing deep tube wells along the main irrigation channels and pumping water back into the canals. As a result, water levels fell drastically in the late 60s and most of the hand pumps became inoperative. These were the beginnings of the water and sewage problems of Dhuddiwala and its adjacent settlements of Hasanpura and Rasool Nagar.

There were also problems of a social nature in the new settlements. These were related to health, education and funerals. In 1968, an organisation or anjuman was formed by Dr. Naseer, a medical practitioner, and his friends. The anjuman identified 10 persons who were of secondary and intermediate education and were comparatively well-off, and requested them to spare one hour in the evenings to teach 35 students who had completed their primary education. The programme started from three baithaks, or drawing rooms, which people used to spare for this purpose. The anjuman also helped the successful students in getting admission to the high school in Faisalabad. In 1970, the anjuman took the responsibility to upgrade the school in Hasanpura. In the late 70s, Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor, member of the district council from Dhuddiwala, informed the anjuman that he had got a budget approved for a road linking up the area with Faisalabad. The anjuman felt that the road would cause conflict as it could not equally benefit all the settlements. They asked their council member to divert the funds for the road to the upgrading of the school. As a result, the primary school was upgraded to a middle school and to a high school in 1986. The anjuman also purchased land in Hasanpura from the Auqaf Department in an auction, and established a janazagah, a space for holding funerals. People contributed Rs 150,000 for the construction of its boundary wall.

The population of Dhuddiwala, Hasanpura and Rasool Nagar consists today of 1010, 1000 and 200 households respectively. According to the residents, about 60 per cent of the working population is employed in the formal industrial sector or on looms. Residents also claim that more than 50 per cent of the population below 20 years of age can read and write.

In addition to the anjuman, there was another welfare organisation that was formed in 1964. Its name is Anjuman Samaji Behbood (ASB) and it is carrying out the replication of the OPP in Dhuddiwala, Hasanpura and Rasool Nagar.

THE ASB’S PSYCHOLOGICAL BARRIER

When Nazir Ahmed Wattoo visited the OPP-RTI in 1988, he expected that the OPP-RTI would fund the ASB for building infrastructure in Dhuddiwala and its neighbouring settlements. In many conversations, he has stated that he was disappointed when he was presented with the OPP-RTI programme and that he was not able to relate to its transparent manner of working since it was so different from the way the ASB had worked since 1964. However, the concept intrigued him and he came back many times to the OPP-RTI to learn more about its working. But he was not convinced and so he met and had long meetings with the people of Orangi who had built their sanitation systems and had received micro-credit. According to him, it was these meetings that made him feel that the programme could be replicated in Faisalabad. But again, he was hesitant because he felt that people would not be willing to make investment in development on his advice because of his past associations and failures. He even doubted, that communities, given their psychology of dependence on politicians and civic agencies, would accept the model. These were issues he debated at great length with the OPP-RTI team for a period of six years.

In February 1993, a WaterAid team consisting of Ray Heslop (Technical Advisor to WaterAid) and the OPP-RTI Consultant visited Dhuddiwala. They surveyed the situation and discussed the possibility of initiating a water and sanitation pilot project in the area with ASB involvement. Mr. Wattoo was tempted and as a result, he visited the OPP-RTI again in April 1994 for formal training. He was also accompanied by social activists from Dhuddiwala.

ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE COMMENCEMENT OF WORK

In September 1994, Hafeez Arian a social organiser from OPP visited Dhuddiwala. He met the community and introduced OPP as a loan giving agency, which promoted “self help” development. It was decided between the ASB and OPP that, a small credit program amounting to Rs 100,000 would be initiated in the area to help establish a relationship of trust between the ASB and the community. The credit programme was designed so that the loans for micro-credit were identified by Nazir Ahmed Wattoo but they were directly returned to the OPP. The money transactions were kept under the OPP’s control to avoid any misunderstanding between the ASB and the community, since Nazir Ahmed Wattoo felt that people would not trust him. Soon after Hafeez Arain’s visit a six-month agreement was signed between ASB and WaterAid. According to the agreement, ASB was responsible for surveying, documentation and mapping of the existing water and sewerage facilities in the areas in and around Dhuddiwalla and identifying a suitable pilot project for the replication of the OPP-RTI infrastructure model. For making this possible, Nazir Ahmed Wattoo was given training and orientation by the OPP at the OPP-RTI and on-site at Dhuddiwala.

MICRO CREDIT PROGRAMME AND TWO-WAY TRUST BUILDING

The OPP started the credit programme on a small scale. An amount of Rs 100,000 was approved and was to be invested in five credit units of Rs 20,000 each. The programme started with three units identified by Nazir Ahmed Wattoo. These included two TV repair shops and a small scale entrepreneur, all old and trusted residents of Dhuddiwala. Nazir Ahmed Wattoo had earlier helped the two TV shop owner’s set-up their businesses and knew that they needed more money to expand their work.

Nazir Ahmed Wattoo was very clear that if the OPP replication was to succeed, he should re-establish the trust the community once had in him and so he made his choices very carefully. He waited till these three units were successfully underway before identifying the remaining two. This measure strengthened his reputation and restored the community’s confidence in the ASB. Soon Nazir Ahmed Wattoo started to be approached by people who wanted credit, and to cater to this demand, he made a formal proposal to the OPP for extending the credit programme.

The ASB carefully monitored the five loans and gave a regular report on their progress to the OPP. As a result, the OPP developed trust in the ASB and at the same time, the ASB became creditable in the eyes of the community. A large number of businesses started to approach him for loans, promising to follow the procedures that the OPP had laid down. This two-way trust building was clearly identified by OPP social organiser Hafeez Arain and on that basis it was decided to expand the credit programme. Since then, the number of credit units has increased from 5 to 277, with a 88.48 per cent recovery rate. OPP-ASB Micro-Credit Programme Details as on 31 March 1999.

WATER PROJECT

The ASB analysed the success of the credit programme and their previous failures. Nazir Ahmed Wattoo became very critical of the work that he had done previously since it had produced no lasting physical or social improvement in the area; and at the same time it had produced a large number of dependants within the community who benefited financially from this work but remained suspicious of the motives of ASB and of each other. On the other hand, the success of the credit programme made them confident of the OPP approach and of the ASB’s capability and capacity in promoting it. As a result of this analysis, the ASB decided to initiate a pilot water supply project financed and managed by the community.

Hasanpura was identified as the project area for the water supply project. Hasanpura was chosen because it had severe water problems. Most of the households had installed hand pumps. However, due to water-logging, houses in the area were threatened by rising damp and the water quality suffered due to a rise in the water table. As mentioned earlier, to solve this problem the Faisalabad Development Aughority (FDA) installed eight deep tube wells on the major irrigation canals in the neighbourhood of these settlements and pumped the ground water into the canals. This lowered the water table and the hand pumps became inoperative.

Contact With Water and Sanitation Authority (WASA)

After Hasanpura has been chosen as the pilot area, Nazir Ahmed Wattoo with the help of the OPP team identified a WASA water main at a distance of 1,100 feet from Hasanpura, which could be tapped for getting water to the settlement. However, since WASA permission is required to tap any line, the ASB made a formal application to WASA for this purpose. WASA responded that it was not possible to treat Hasanpura as an individual case as it formed a part of a larger WASA water supply plan. WASA further stated that its plan would be implemented in 2008 and that too depended on the availability of funds. Another problem was that the pipe line would have to pass under a major road for 110 feet and for that special FMC permission would be required.

The ASB discussed this reply with the OPP and it was decided to calculate the total expenditure that Hasanpura residents had to incur due to the non-availability of potable water. According to the ASB analysis, Hasanpura residents acquired drinking water from outside their settlement through donkey-cart vendors. Underground water from shallow bores was used for washing clothes and other purposes. The water was extracted from these bores by a large number of electricity operated pumps. According to ASB calculations, every house was purchasing 35 litres of water every day for Rs 5. Thus, the total expense for 1,000 houses was around Rs 5,000 per day, Rs 150,000 per month and Rs 1,800,000 per year. Since almost every house had an electric pump for extracting ground water, around 730,000 units of electricity were consumed annually. This amounted to Rs 1,460,000 per year. Additional community expenses incurred on washing of clothes, using saline water were also assessed. It was estimated that additional laundry soap consumed by 1,000 houses was 48,000 kg per year. The cost of this additional soap works out to Rs 960,000. The consumption of additional bath soap was around 96,000 pieces. Its cost was estimated at Rs 672,000. Use of saline water, dearth of clean water and bad sanitation conditions, were responsible for various diseases. It was estimated that residents spent about Rs 2,400,000 annually on medicines and doctors. Open drains were also causing water logging and damaging the housing stock due to rising damp. It was estimated that each house spent about Rs 2,000 per year dealing with this problem, and 1,000 houses spend Rs 2,000,000. Thus, owing to the above factors, the community was spending Rs 9,292,000 annually. If water came in 2008 to the ASB areas, then the community at this rate would spend Rs 100 million between now and 2008. A water and sanitation system could save them this expense. It was therefore decided to inform the community of these figures and present them with the OPP alternative. However, before this could be done, it was necessary to identify community activists.

Identification of Community Activists and Strategy for Work

In September 1995, a team of activists was formed in Hasanpura. For identifying the members of this team Nazir Ahmed Wattoo contacted Najabat Hussain Sial, an ex-political activist and homeopathic doctor living in Hasanpura. Najabat Sial identified Muhammad Siddique and Haji Muhammad Yousuf as the two most respected and active persons in Hasanpura. Muhammad Siddique is an old shop keeper of Hasanpura and Haji Muhammad Yousef is the caretaker of the local mosque and an ex-patwari who has served in the irrigation department for 35 years. As such, he knew Hasanpura and the adjoining areas well. Nazir Ahmed Wattoo approached these two persons and after detailed discussions they decided to support the concept and its implementation.

Wattoo, Yousuf and Sial decided not to approach the community immediately but to keep talking to individuals concerning the programme to gauge their reaction and at the same time maintain a low profile so as not to build false hopes. This methodology was practised for over three months and a consensus on the laying of a water line was developed. Once it was felt that the idea would be supported by the community, the first community meeting was organised in November 1995 in a local mosque which was identified by the people. The meeting was attended by 48 residents. At the meeting, Nazir Ahmed Wattoo presented the OPP concept and emphasised the fact that this was a “non-political” project. He proposed that a people’s committee should be formed to organise and undertake the development work and that the ASB would only be a teacher, an advisor and a liaison between the OPP and the people. The community accepted the idea and a ten-member Water Supply Committee (WSC) was chosen.

Financing the Project and NOC for Connection to Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) Mainline

Once the decision for commencing the project was made, the issue of funds required for this undertaking was raised by the WSC. The committee felt that it required funds for laying the main pipe line. Individual lanes could then lay their own distribution lines and households would connect to them and when they did so, they would pay their share of its cost and the project cost would be recovered. The ASB proposed that the WSC should ask the OPP for a loan which would be returned after individual water connections had been paid for. The community accepted the proposal but the OPP suggested that WaterAid should be asked for a revolving fund for the Water Project. A loan application for Rs 200,000 for laying 1,100 running feet for the main line was made to WaterAid by the ASB. The application was approved and an agreement between the Hasanpura Water Supply Committee and the ASB was framed under which the WSC was made responsible for collecting money from water connections, keeping accounts, purchasing materials of construction, and supervising the construction of the main line and the distribution lines in the lanes.

On ASB’s advice, the WSC, before starting mobilisation and organisation of the community, made an application in November 1995 to the Managing Director (MD) of WASA for a no objection certificate (NOC) for making a connection to a government water source. The MD WASA passed on the application to the Deputy MD who then passed it on to the Engineer in-charge of the area, who after giving his approval sent it to the Deputy Director of the Planning and Development Department. The whole process took over three months and at every stage the ASB had to apply pressure on the WASA staff, from various sources, and informally give money to the lower staff of the department so that the file could be kept moving. Finally, in January 1996 the NOC was given with the proviso that the 4 inch main pipe line that had been proposed by the ASB, should be increased to 6 inch. The WSC had decided in November 1995 not to wait for the NOC but begin work.

Organising the Work

After the formation of WSC, an OPP team consisting of engineer Rashid Khattri and social organiser Noor Ahmed Saifi visited Dhuddiwala and trained the ASB team in mapping, surveying, estimating and planning of the water supply line. The training was provided by involving the ASB team and the water supply committee in preparing the plans and estimates for the line.

WaterAid funds were received in November 1995 after which a purchase committee was formed which included Nazir Ahmed Wattoo, a WASA fitter (not in his official capacity), and three members of the water supply committee. The WASA fitter was included since he was a Hasanpura resident and had technical expertise. The Committee was made responsible for buying and storing materials till the work could be started.

A major dispute took place in the Committee. Some members, supported by a part of the community felt that the 4 inch dia pipe line proposed by the OPP engineers was insufficient for 1,000 households. They insisted that the line should be of at least 6 inch dia. Nazir Ahmed Wattoo tried to convince them that a 6 inch line was not necessary. However, the dispute intensified and was resolved by Haji Muhammad Yousuf who proposed that a 6 inch dia pipe line should be laid under the metalled municipality road in Hasanpura and the rest of the line should be 4 inch. The community accepted the compromise. The NOC for connection with the WASA main line, which was granted later, also directed that a 6 inch dia line should be laid, but this was not followed by the community.

Crossing the Metalled Road and Connections with WASA Mainline

The WSC decided to begin work by laying the water line under the metalled road. For road cutting, permission from the FMC was required. The Committee contacted the lower staff of the FMC who told the committee that getting permission would take a long time and would also involve illegal gratification to FMC staff. They suggested that the Committee should go ahead and lay the line across the road and after that pay the necessary fine. This process was simpler and cheaper and the ASB decided to follow this advice. However, the road crossing had to be done clandestinely so that it was not noticed and stopped by the FMC. This could only be done after dark. In addition, the Committee discussed the matter with the area councillor and he also backed this advice.

On November 24, 1995, the laying of the pipe line was inaugurated by Haji Master Ghulam Nabi, the oldest member of the Hasanpura community. He was chosen by consensus of the active members of the settlement. The excavation began at 9 p.m. and the 110 running feet was laid across the road in one night. The excavation was refilled and the road was repaired. WASA would have require three days to carry out this work. Throughout the night the Committee members and the municipal councillor remained on site to deal with a possible stoppage of work. However, work continued and it was only in the morning that an opponent group of the area reported the cutting of the road without permission and the laying of the pipe line, to the area magistrate. The case fizzled out because of support from the councillor and FMC executives. WASA also had no objection as only a pipe line had been laid and no water connection was involved.

Connection of the 1,100 running feet of ASB line with the WASA main line could only be made if the existing WASA line could be de-watered. For this a pump was required. The WSC requested the WASA officials for a pump but it was refused. This problem was overcome by acquiring the pump informally from the WASA pump operators against a payment of Rs 2,000. Two WASA fitters were informally hired to work on the connection. This entire work was also done clandestinely and was executed in six hours in freezing cold. After the connection was made, ASB requested OPP-RTI for technical support for extending the water line into the project area. OPP-RTI technician cum social organiser, Noor Ahmed Saifi, spent two weeks on site supervising the laying of 400 running feet of line and at the same time training the ASB team. The first tap was installed at the office of the ASB. The community was ecstatic when they saw clean water coming out of the tap.

Procedures and Costs

The procedures and costs for acquiring a water connection are:

After a lane is organised, it approaches the ASB and requests it for a water connection. The lane households who want a connection are asked to pay Rs 20 each. These charges are to cover the cost of stationery and printing of forms that are used in registering the request;

After this ASB contacts WASA and each applicant household has to pay WASA connection charges of Rs 1,175. Originally, this was Rs 1,363 but was reduced by WASA in July 1997.

A design for laying the water line is made by the ASB, executed by the lane community, and supervised by the ASB team. The average estimate per house for connections works out to Rs 600 depending on the length of the pipe and excavation needed to be done to make the connection. This payment is made to the WSC.

An additional Rs.1,300 per household have to be made, also to the WSC, for the cost of the lane line and the water main already laid by funds from Water Aid.

A sum of Rs.100 has to be paid to the WSC as service charges. Thus, the total cost of acquiring a water connection works to Rs.3,195 per household.

The estimate and design for the water main line were made as follows:

System designed for 1,000 houses in 84 streets. Their actual number is 829. The extra 171 households were included in the estimate as it was expected that they would join in from the neighbouring settlements.

Realistic beneficiaries were calculated at 700 households or 70 per cent of 1,000.

The total project was calculated at Rs.910,000 or at Rs.1,300 per household, minus connection expenses.

Problems and Conflict

Soon after the main line had been connected to the WASA water line, differences arose in the WSC. The reasons for the differences are unclear, and seem to be related to ego problems of two members, who left the Committee. These two members started maligning the work of the ASB and approached the area Member Provincial Assembly (MPA). They informed him that the ASB and the WSC were using the water project to build a constituency for themselves and were his political opponents. They also informed him that they were giving water connections to the community in violation of WASA rules. The MPA reacted and called the WASA MD for an explanation. The WASA MD informed the MPA that the WSC was not making illegal connections since they had acquired a WASA NOC. In addition, they were paying WASA connection charges.

The MPA then started laying his own water line in Hasanpura and promising free connections to the community. Once the MPA began this process, progress on the water project slowed down. The ASB decided to counter this situation by informing the community of the substandard nature of the work being done by the MPA's contractors. This was there for all to see. In addition, it was also pointed out that WASA could not provide any more water to the area as per its plan. This generated considerable debate in the community. Meanwhile, the MPA’s project fizzled out in a couple of months and the people realised that it was a hoax.

In these circumstances, it was necessary to build the community’s spirit. Choudhary Muhammad Akram, a member of the WSC, decided to organise his lane as a demonstration model. The community was organised and a design was made according to the procedures laid down by the ASB. Charges for connections at Rs 3,195 per household were requested. People objected that this sum was too high and so the ASB requested WASA for an exemption from WASA connection charges. The request was considered by WASA and three months later it was refused. After this, the community decided not to waste any more time and collected Rs 22,000 from six houses. With this money Chaudhry Muhammad Akram undertook the laying of the first lane.

Unauthorised Connections and Further Conflict

The opponents of the ASB struck back in August 1996 when Nazir Ahmed Wattoo was visiting the OPP-RTI for a training session. With support from the political party in power, they managed to take 65 unauthorised connections from the water lines laid by the WSC. They paid no charges to the WSC or to WASA. WSC contacted Nazir Ahmed Wattoo in Karachi and told him that the community was furious and wanted to take revenge on the opponents of the Water Project. However, on OPP advice, Nazir Ahmed Wattoo asked the community to keep calm and to prepare for taking legal action against the illegal connections that had been taken. An application requesting their disconnection was made to WASA, but it took three months before WASA approved the request. Meanwhile, work again slowed down due to this new conflict.

WASA issued disconnection orders in November 1996. People who had taken illegal connections were fined Rs 500 each and the connections were made legal after the WASA connection charge of Rs 1,175 was paid by them. However, they refused to pay an additional Rs 600 to the WSC. As a result, the ASB filed a petition with the Senior Civil Judge Faisalabad requesting him to order that no water connections could be acquired without ASB’s approval and a payment to the WSC. The petition was accepted and households who had taken connections without paying were forced to pay. In September 1997, thirteen members of the Hasanpura community approached the Member National Assembly (MNA) and MPA of the area and informed them that ASB’s activities in Hasanpura were a threat to their political standing. They further said that ASB’s activities were of a commercial nature and that ASB was extorting money from the poor. The MNA and MPA agreed to look into this matter.

When the WSC got to know of these happenings, it decided to meet the political representatives and explain the nature of ASB’s water and sanitation work. In October 1997, it made a presentation before the MNA and MPA and misunderstandings were removed. As a result of the meeting, the MPA decided to give support to the ASB programme and issued a directive to MD WASA that no new connections should be issued to anyone unless they were willing to make the required payments to the WSC.

In spite of the Civil Judge’s order and the MPA’s directive, the MD WASA continued to issue connection notices to people who have not paid the ASB/WSC charges. As a result, the ASB filed a writ petition against MD WASA in the Punjab High Court and also complained to the WASA board regarding the MD. This led to a meeting at WASA in December 1997 in which the Vice Chairman of the WASA Governing Board, directed the MD that in future no new connection would be provided from the community’s line without consulting ASB. It was also stated by the Vice Chairman that if these orders were not followed, strict action would be taken against the MD.

After the December 1997 meeting, WASA officials became very cooperative and work progressed smoothly in the ASB project area. In January 1998, the writ petition was withdrawn by the ASB.