25 June 2004	Friday	06 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

KARACHI, June 24: Situation caused due to persisting water shortage in different sectors of Korangi on Thursday took an ugly turn when residents of the water-starved localities ransacked the office of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board's executive engineer , situated at Korangi No 5.

According to sources, a number of residents of Korangi's sectors 32 and 34, on Thursday, reached the XEN office to apprise the officials concerned of their problem, but on getting no satisfactory reply from the officials, they resorted to violence and caused damage to the office's furniture.

The mob also chanted slogans against the KWSB officials for not taking measures to restore normal supply to their localities. Reports of a similar attack on the office of the KWSB's Landhi XEN office were also received.

Asked about the causes of persisting water shortage in Korangi and Landhi, the KWSB sources accused the board officials at its Water Trunk Main division of not releasing the sanctioned quota of water to the affected localities of Korangi and Landhi. They also accused them of giving preference to the bulk consumers.

Besides, complaints of persisting water shortage have also been received from different blocks of Buffer Zone, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Clifton, Shanti Nagar, Ranchorre Lines, Bhimpura, Malir, Saudabad and Khokarapar.

The hard-hit areas include Gulshan-i-Iqbal's blocks 10, 11, 14 and 18; Gulistan-i-Jauhar's blocks 3 and 4 and Clifton's blocks 2, 5 and 7. Residents of the affected localities complained that although an acute water shortage had been persisting in their localities for the last one week, the KWSB officials concerned seem least interested in restoring normal supply despite the lodging of a number of complaints with them.

They deplored that in the absence of piped water, they had no choice but to either purchase private tankers at exorbitant rates or to consume sub-soil unhygienic water at the cost of their health.

Accusing the KWSB officials in water distribution department of creating water shortage, residents of Gulshan-i-Iqbal and Gulistan-i-Jauhar alleged that the main cause of persisting water shortage in their localities were illegal water connections being provided to multi-storey housing and commercial projects being constructed in their localities.

ILLEGAL CONNECTION: The newly-elected nazim of Malir Town, Naveedul Islam, on Thursday detected an illegal water connection of one-and-a-half inch dia, which some unscrupulous elements had taken from a bulk supply line, passing through the National Highway, near Hassan Hospital.

Suspecting that such a huge theft was not possible without the connivance of the KWSB officials, the nazim said that as soon as those involved in the racket were traced, they would be dealt with sternly in accordance with the law. The nazim also asked the SHO of Saudabad police to arrest the culprits involved in the water theft.