KARACHI, April 19: Acute water shortage continued to persist in various city areas on Saturday, forcing the residents of the affected areas to either buy private tankers at exorbitant rates or consume sub-soil, unhygienic water.
Private water tankers, which were in high demand in the wake of persisting shortage, charged between Rs400 and Rs500, per tanker from the residents of water-starved localities.
The worst affected areas included, Gulshan-i-Iqbal’s blocks 1 and 13-D, Mithadar, Kharadar, different sectors of North Karachi, New Karachi, Clifton’s blocks 2 and 7, Mehmoodabad, Azam Basti, Gizri, Keamari and parts of Lyari and Golimar.
The other localities which went without water on Saturday under the ‘water-holiday system’ included, PECHS, KDA Scheme-1, Sharfabad, the Karachi Television Centre, the KACH Society, Civic Centre and its adjoining localities, Mehmoodabad No 5, Liaquatabad, Gharibabad, Furqanabad, Bandhani Colony and parts of Nazimabad, Liaquat National Hospital and Aga Khan Hospital.
Complaints of water shortage have also been received from various sectors of Baldia and Orangi townships. Residents of the affected sectors of these townships said that since they had received short supply of water during their last turn, a vast area was still in the grip of serious water crisis. Reiterating their demand of reducing the gap between their supply from five days to at least four days, residents of both the townships regretted that their localities usually went dry for 10 days, as the water and sanitation department often failed to implement the schedule of water supply in the areas, throwing them at the mercy of private tankers or to drink unhygienic water at the cost of their health.
CLOSURE: The areas which will go dry on Monday as part of the city government’s plan of diverting the Indus water to the localities hooked to the Hub source, include all blocks of Federal B-Area, North Nazimabad, Buffer Zone, Nazimabad and Shadman Town.
