KARACHI, June 8: The water supply position in Lyari Town has not improved during
the past week for the KWSB has failed to honour its commitment
This announcement was made by the Lyari Town administration here on Saturday.
It stated that despite the assurance given by the KWSB that it would take steps to ensure the normal supply of 13mgd to the town within a week, the situation had remained unchanged.
Last week, a serious deadlock had developed between the town administration and the city government and the KWSB when the elected Nazims and Naib Nazims of the town had locked their offices in protest against the water shortage.
The deadlock was averted when the city Nazim intervened by calling an urgent meeting to find a way to resolve the crisis.
Held at the secretariat of the city government, the meeting was participated, among others, by the members of the city committee on water, the DCO, the MD KWSB and the chief engineers of water and sewerage.
The town was represented by a 40-member delegation comprising UC Nazims, NGOs and women councillors and was headed by the town Nazim .
During the meeting, the KWSB had maintained that they were supplying 13mgd, while the town administration insisted that about 8mgd was being supplied to Lyari Town and the remaining water was being supplied to the neighbouring towns of SITE, Keamari and Saddar.
It was decided that the old system of water supply to the Lyari Town areas would be restored which was applied prior to Aug 11, 2001, and elected councillors would monitor the pump and valve operation process.
However, a press release issued by the administration of Lyari Town said the position had not improved and the Nazim of the town urged the KWSB to honour its commitment.
The Nazim called an emergency meeting of UC Nazims and Naib Nazims which was attended by the elected councillors to consider the water supply situation in their respective areas.
The meeting regretted that the water shortage problem in the town persisted despite the assurances of the KWSB that the normal supply of water would be restored within a week.
The Nazim also told the meeting that the city Nazim, along with the KWSB’s MD, is expected to visit the town on June 13. He urged the UC Nazims to submit him a report on the water supply position in their respective areas by June 11 so that they could prepare their future strategy.
A survey shows that the water shortage problem persists in some parts of Lyari, multiplying the miseries of the people in the affected areas.
Expressing concern over the failure of the agencies concerned to ensure supply of potable water, the residents have called for urgent measures to resolve the long-standing water problem of the area.
They said the locality had been faced with an acute water shortage over the years and no concrete steps had been taken so far in that regard.
A resident of the water deficit area of Kalri Salim Raj said: “We have been making appeals to various authorities and agencies including the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, but the situation remains unchanged.”
The water shortage problem has become acute in some parts of Lyari for the last many years because of the defective water distribution system and illegal connections.
The residents blame valvemen for creating artificial water crisis by illegally diverting the water share of their locality to some other areas.
The worst affected areas are: Ali Mohammad Mollah, Ahmed Shah Bukhari Road (Kalri), parts of New Kalri including Hingorabad, Baghdadi Saifi Lane, Nayabad, Darayabad, Fidha Husain Shaika Road and Shah Beg Lane.
Most of these localities have not been receiving a regular supply of water for the past few years because the supply lines in some of the affected areas have been diverted to other areas.
