KARACHI, Jan 4: The water and sanitation department of the city government has reduced the quantity of water supplied to the Site industrial area by 50 per cent, and exporters say they are facing problems in meeting their export commitments due to the resulting slowdown in production.
“Site industries are getting four MGD of water daily against their need for eight MGD,” a spokesman for the Site Association of Industry said.
“The cut in water supply has created a lot of problems for other industries too. Industrialists are now buy water tankers on exorbitant rates,” said a SOS message sent to Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, Minister of Industries and Production Liaquat Jatoi, Minister of Commerce Humayun Akhtar and Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad on Saturday.
Industrial production was going down and export-oriented industries were perturbed because they could not meet their export targets within the stipulated time, the SOS said.
The Chairman of the Site Association, Haroon Farooki, said a technical report showed that the supply of water from a 24-inch diameter pipeline was very irregular since the introduction of a new schedule for water supply at the Board Office pumping station.
Only 2-3 pumps were being operated as against five pumps formerly which hardly catered to the needs of Banaras pumping station, he added.
He urged the prime minister to issue instructions to the water and sanitation department of the City District Government Karachi for restoration of the allocated quota of eight MGD to the Site area and to supply water during night according to the previous schedule. He apprehended economic, social and political problems if industries were closed.
OTHER AREAS: Several areas in the city experienced a shortage of water on Saturday, forcing residents to either buy private tankers at exorbitant rates or to consume sub-soil unhygienic water.
The hard-hit areas included almost all sprawling townships of former district West, Shershah, Site industrial area, different blocks of Gulshan-i- Iqbal, Clifton’s Block-2, Adamjee Nagar, Jinnah Cooperative Housing Society, parts of Mehmoodabad No 6, PECHS’ green-belt area, Jamshed Road, Malir and Khokhrapar.
Residents of different blocks of Gulshan-i-Iqbal complained the water supply to their localities was officially suspended for only one day, ie, on Friday, but their localities remained without water even on Saturday.
It has become a routine that whenever a one-day water holiday is enforced in a locality hooked to the Indus source for diverting water to the sprawling townships of Orangi, Baldia, Surjani, North Karachi, Shershah and parts of the SITE industrial area, the locality often go without water for at least two days.
The localities where water supply remained suspended on Saturday as part of the city government’s water and sanitation department’s plan of diverting the water to the localities hooked to the Hub source included all blocks of PECHS, KDA Scheme-1, Sharfabad, Karachi Television Centre, Karachi Administration Cooperative Housing Society, Civic Centre and its adjoining localities, Mehmoodabad No 5, Liaquatabad, Gharibabad, Furqanabad, Bandhani Colony, parts of Nazimabad, Liaquat National Hospital and Aga Khan Hospital.
