KARACHI, Dec 8: Pumping of water to the city from Dhabeji pumping house remained suspended for more than two hours on Monday owing to a major electricity breakdown.
A spokesman for the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board said that power at the main Dhabeji pumping station went off at 12.20 pm and was restored at 2.30 pm, causing a shortfall of over 15 million gallons of water.
Asked about the impact of the shortfall, he said that except for the areas hooked to the Hub dam source, various parts of the city will face water shortage on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the localities which experienced acute water shortage on Monday include Clifton’s Block 2, Mehmoodabad, PECHS (Green-belt Area), Manzoor Colony, different sectors of North Karachi, Orangi Town’s Islam Chowk, Ali Nagar, Aziz Nagar, Ghausia Baloch Colony, Urdu Chowk and its adjoining localities, Bangalore Town, Adamjee Nagar and parts of Old City Area, particularly Kharadar, Mithadar, Bhimpura, Pakistan Chowk.
OVERFLOWING GUTTERS: Filthy water overflowing from chocked gutters in different parts of the city was not only causing unhygienic conditions but was also damaging roads and streets.
The localities where this nuisance has become routine include Federal B’ Area’s blocks 2 and 7, Ranchorre Line’s main road, main University Road, near Old Sabzi Mandi, Dadabhoy Nauroji Road and near Jubilee Cinema.
People residing in the vicinity of Federal B’ Area’s Taleemi Bagh and Dastagir’s post office, said that although dirty water often remains stagnant on a number of streets owing to chocked sewerage lines, the officials concerned of the KWSB have not yet rectified the fault responsible for overflowing gutters.
The persisting overflows from the chocked sewerage lines, on the one hand, were causing unhygienic conditions and inconvenience to residents and, on the other, presenting an ugly sight to the passersby.
Meanwhile, residents of an apartment building, situated near Khidmat-i-Khalq Foundation, complained that since the sewerage system of their locality had collapsed, filthy water often remains stagnant on a couple of adjoining streets.
LYARI: Residents of Ali Mohammad Mohalla of Kalri, Shah Beg Lane Union Council, continue to suffer because of an acute water shortage as authorities have failed to honour their commitments in this regard.
At present, the locality gets water through tankers which, the consumers say, is expensive and insufficient to meet their needs.
The chronic problem has already created law and order situation several a times over the past many years as the aggrieved people resorted to agitation.
According to a resident, work on a supply line linking Ali Mohammad Mohalla with Kharadar pumping station was started some time ago, but stopped abruptly due at the behest of certain influential figures.
He accused the Nazim of Baghdadi Union Council and some other local bodies member of getting the work stopped on the pretext that the new pipeline might affect water supply to their own localities.
The infuriated residents said that for the last two decades, the residents of Ali Mohammad Mohalla were being denied water on political grounds as the locality had always been a vote bank of opposition parties.
Mr Akhtar Baloch, a social figure of his locality, described the authorities’ attitude as political victimization, and pointed out: “Some of our areas are even without a internal connections.”
He said: “All successive governments and major parties, after coming to powers, make promises of resolving the chronic water problem within a few weeks or months, but these commitments have never been honoured.”
The areas worst-hit by water shortage are parts of Shah Beg Lane (UC-6) and Daryabad (UC-5).
Residents of some affected areas blame ‘water mafia’ and valvemen for the ‘artificial’ crisis saying that they use to divert the water share of their locality to some other areas.
Another major factor contributing to water shortage in certain areas of Lyari appeared to be the defective water distribution system and illegal connections.
Some of the town’s localities do not receive water regularly because the flow is diverted to the areas other than it is meant for, allegedly under the influence of the powerful mafia.
