KARACHI, Oct 19: With a view to overcoming water crisis in the localities hooked to the Hub dam’s dried reservoir, the KWSB is going to introduce the water-holiday system for other localities of the city getting supply from the Indus source.
Under the water-holiday system being introduced from Monday, the KWSB has decided to suspend the supply of some localities once a week for diverting the same to the sprawling townships of Orangi, Baldia, Surjani, North Karachi, Shershah and parts of the SITE industrial area.
Till some other alternative measures are adopted, the following localities will go dry once a week:
MONDAY: There will be no water supply on every Monday in all the blocks of Federal B’ Area, North Nazimabad, Buffer Zone, Nazimabad and Shadman Town.
TUESDAY: Clifton, Gizri, Delhi Colony, Punjab Colony, Shireen Jinnah Colony, Bhutta Village, Naval Dockyard, NORE-1 and GE Army installation will remain without water on Tuesdays.
Water supply to the city’s major hospitals such as the Jinnah Post-graduate Medical Centre, the National Institute of Child Health and the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases will also remain suspended on every Tuesday.
WEDNESDAY: The areas where supply will remain suspended on Wednesdays include Old City Area, Garden East, Garden West, Soldier Bazaar, Saddar, Shikarpur Colony, Cosmopolitan Society and parts of Lyari.
THURSDAY: Landhi, Korangi, Defence Housing Authority, National Refinery, Karachi Port Trust, Pakistan Railways, PAF (Korangi) Base and its adjoining areas will not be supplied water on Thursdays.
FRIDAY: The localities which will go dry on Fridays include Gulshan-i-Iqbal’s blocks 3, 4, 6, 7, 10, 10-A, 13-A, 13-B, 16, 17 and 18.
SATURDAY: The areas which will not be supplied water on Fridays include entire PECHS, KDA Scheme-1, Sharfabad, Karachi Television Centre, KACH Society, Civic Centre and its adjoining localities, Mehmoodabad No 5, Liaquatabad, Gharibabad, Furqanabad, Bandhani Colony and parts of Nazimabad.
The Liaquat National Hospital and the Aga Khan Hospital will also not receive water on Saturdays.
WATER CRISIS: Various parts of the sprawling Orangi Town have been experiencing acute water shortage for the last five days.
The worst affected localities are Orangi’s Makhdoom Shah Colony (Sector 11 1/2), Sector 16 Ghaziabad, almost all the localities of Union Council No-9, and these include Aziz Nagar, Ghausia Baluch Colony, Sector 15-D’s Thorani Goth, Bangla Bazaar, Sector 14, Block L of Sector 10 and Pakistan Bazaar.
Criticising the KWSB officials for not ensuring smooth and uninterrupted supply to various parts of Orangi, the Nazima of Orangi Town’s UC-9, Shehnaz Perveen, said that the residents of all the localities falling under the jurisdiction of UC-9 were deprived of water for the last six days and they either consumed subsoil unhygienic water at the cost of their health or purchased tankers at exorbitant rates.
The water supply to the metropolis from Hub Dam resources was stopped on Friday after its water level touched the dead level. The decision was taken at a meeting held between the officials of the Sindh and Balochistan irrigation departments, the water board and WAPDA on Wednesday.
