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KARACHI, Aug 23: Many areas of the city, on Saturday, remained in grip of acute water shortage owing to the shortfall of 50 million gallons daily.
Though the officials of water and sanitation department attribute the water shortage to the power breakdowns at Dhabeji and Pipri pumping stations on Thursday.
Simultaneously, insiders told Dawn that the city had not been getting normal supply of water from Dhabeji since Tuesday when a 72-inch-dia main pipeline had burst near Dhabeji.
Despite the claim of water and sanitation department officials that the main pipeline had been repaired and normal supply to the city had been restored, the city could not receive normal supply of water from Dhabeji, the sources added.
On the other side, a spokesman for the water and sanitation department confirmed that the main pipeline had been repaired and the city would start getting the supply by Sunday.
As a result of the shortage, the officials concerned could not implement the weekly water-holiday system in letter and spirit. Many localities, where the water-holiday system was applied on Friday, remained dry on Saturday as well.
These hard- hit areas included some parts of Lyari, Malir, Bin Qasim, Landhi, Korangi and Shah Faisal towns.
A number of other localities also faced difficulties owing to short supply of water on Saturday. The hard-hit areas included blocks 4 and 5 of Clifton, blocks 2, 5, 6, 10 and 11 of Federal B’ Area, sectors 5C-1, 5C-2, and 11-J of North Karachi, and some parts of Buffer Zone.
Besides, the localities which went without water on Saturday under the water-holiday system included PECHS, KDA Scheme-1, Sharfabad, Karachi Television Centre, Liaquat National Hospital, Aga Khan Hospital, KACH Society, Civic Centre and its adjoining localities, Mehmoodabad No-5, Liaquatabad, Gharibabad, Furqanabad, Bandhani Colony and parts of Nazimabad.
PROTEST: Persisting water shortage in various union councils of Orangi Town was assuming alarming proportion as the protest demonstrations over the non-availability of water have become a matter of routine in the town.
Nazims of the affected UCs deplored that the city had started receiving 25mgd water from the Hub source, but the supply of water to their localities had not improved so far.
According to them, the affected localities of the township include Orangi No-10, Urdu Chowk, Bismillah Colony, Al-Fatah Colony, Bijli Nagar, Bewa Quarters, Madina Colony, Block-L, Baloch Colony, Millat Colony, Block-J, Aziz Nagar, Warsia Colony, Ghausia Baloch Colony, Benazir Colony, Makhdoom Shah Colony, Ali Nagar, Junaid Nagar and their adjoining localities.
They demanded of the city Nazim and the EDO water and sanitation to immediately restore normal and uninterrupted supply to their localities, otherwise, a law and order situation might arise in their union councils.
According to Mr Aftab Ahmed, a councillor of Orangi Town’s UC-9, the scant supply with a low pressure and curtailment of timings of their supply from 20 hours to 12 hours was the main cause of water shortage.
