KARACHI: Water supply duration in some areas curtailed
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, June 10: The quantity of water supply to almost all the localities hooked to the Hub source has been reduced following the four-hour curtailment to their supply timings.
All the localities hooked to the Hub source are being supplied water only from the Indus source after every 72 hours, as the supply from the Hub source has already come to an end with effect from June 5.
The localities whose supply timings have been reduced include sprawling townships of North Karachi, Baldia and Orangi.
“We had no choice but to reduce the water supply timings of the localities after the supply from the Hub source came to a zero level,” an officials of the city government’s water and sanitation department.
He further said: “In fact the old water supply schedule, which was in vogue prior to March 4, has been reintroduced in the localities to cope with the situation that has arisen in the wake of the complete stoppage of supply to the city from the Hub dam’s dried reservoir.
According to the new schedule of supply, water supply timings of all the sectors of North Karachi Township have been reduced from 48 hours to 44 hours; of all those areas of Orangi which are getting their supply from 36-inch dia pipeline. from 20 hours to 16 hours; Orangi’s block ‘L’ from 20 to 16 hours and Baldia Town from 30 hours to 26 hours.
However, the water supply timings of Surjani Town and Mianwalli Colony have not been reduced and they localities will continue to get the supply for eight hours.
All these localities are nowadays being supplied water only through the Indus source via Ajmair Nagri and North-East Karachi pumping stations.
DEMO: Enraged residents of Orangi’s sector 11 1/2 (Farooqabad) on Wednesday took to the streets to protest against water shortage.
The protesters burnt old tyres and chanted slogans against W&S department officials for not restoring normal supply in the locality.
The demonstrators, including women, blocked the road for about two hours. Police baton-charged to disperse them.
According to source, water supply to Orangi’s sector 11 1/2 (Farooqabad) was affected owing to the damage which was caused to the air valve of a 48-inch dia pipeline near Orangi Town’s sector 10 on Tuesday, when some excavation work was on.
KORANGI TOWN: Residents of different parts of Korangi also staged protest demonstrations in front of the Korangi Town administration office. The protesters belonged to Korangi’s UC-1 ( Bilal Colony), UC-3 (Chakra Goth) and UC-4 (Mustafa Taj Colony).
Pacifying the protesters, Korangi Town’s Nazim Abdul Jamil Khan, said that although the town administration had brought the lingering water issue of different parts of Korangi into the notice of the officials of the W&S department on several occasions, no measures had so far been taken to restore normal supply. He demanded of the W&S department to immediately take steps to improve the supply position.
The other localities which went without water on Tuesday under the weekly water-holiday system included Clifton, Gizri, Delhi Colony, Punjab Colony, Shireen Jinnah Colony, Bhutta Village, the Jinnah Post-graduate Medical Centre, the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases and the National Institute of Child Health and their adjacent areas.
Complaints of persisting water shortage have also been received from different parts of Korangi, Landhi, North Karachi, Surjani, Shershah, Old City Area, Shah Faisal, Federal B Area’s blocks 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14, Al-Erum Foundation,, Buffer Zone, Mehmoodabad, Akhtar Colony and the SITE Industrial Area.
CLOSURE: The localities where supply would remain suspended on Wednesday are: Garden East, Garden West, Soldier Bazaar, Shikarpur Colony, Saddar, Old City Area and Cosmopolitan Society.
