October 20, 2001	Saturday	Shaba'an 2, 1422

KARACHI, Oct 19: Private water tankers had a field day on Friday as most parts of the city went dry owing to a shortfall of about 150 mgd, caused in the wake of Thursday’s power failures at the KWSB’s Dhabeji and Gharo pumping stations and low voltage problem at the Hub pumping station.

Power supply at the Dhabeji pumping station (Second Phase) from where the city gets 100 mgd went was disrupted 11 pm on Wednesday due to a fault in KESC’s 11-KV cable while a low voltage problem which occurred at the Hub pumping station at 7.30 pm disturbed supply on Thursday and pumping of water from these stations remained suspended causing a shortfall of over 125 mgd of water.

Another shortfall of water to the tune of about 25 mgd was caused due to non-availability of electricity at Gharo on Thursday between 2.30 pm and 6.30 pm.

The KWSB officials said though the power supply at both Gharo and Hub pumping stations had been restored early Friday morning, the city’s water supply position will be normalized by Saturday morning.

As a number of localities either went dry or received scant supply due to low pressure, private tankers, taking an undue advantage of the situation, did a roaring business in the water- starved localities of the metropolis.

Residents of the affected localities said private tankers which were in high demand on Friday charged between Rs 400 and 500 per tanker.

Residents of affected areas also complained that although it was the responsibility of the KWSB to provide water through tankers in the water-starved localities, their requests of getting water through the tankers were not entertained by the KWSB officials on the plea that the tankers service from the KWSB hydrants was being managed by Rangers and not by the KWSB.

LEAKAGE: An eight-inch dia pipeline, passing beneath a park, near North Nazimabad’s Hyderi Market, burst on Friday morning, inundating a major portion of main North Nazimabad Road (from Hyderi Market to KDA Roundabout).

The water gushing out from the burst pipeline not only created hindrance in the smooth flow of traffic on the affected portion of North Nazimabad’s main Road but also damaged plants of a nearby Hyderi’s Havaldar Lalakjan Shaheed Children Park.

People residing in the vicinity of Hyderi Market complained that although a considerable quantity of water had been coming out from the pipeline for the last one week, the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board officials concerned did not bother to repair the leakage in its initial stage and as a result of which it got damaged on Friday and one could see knee-deep water in the nearby streets, as well.

MALIR: Leakages in the main pipeline supplying water to the Malir-Khokhrapar area at several places have played a havoc with the Begum Khurshid Road and pools of water can be seen on the road, making it unworthy for traffic. This ha