KARACHI, Oct 7: Private water tankers on Friday had a field day as several parts of the city either went without water or received scant supply.

The hard-hit localities include North Nazimabad’s blocks C and H, Bath Island, Clifton’s blocks 4 and 7, Gulistan-i-Jauhar’s blocks 13, 14 and 15, Gulshan-i-Iqbal’s Block-11, parts of Old City area, Al-Hamra Cooperative Housing Society, Bahaduryar Jang Society, Overseas Cooperative Housing Society and a portion of Adamjee Nagar.

Residents of North Nazimabad’s affected areas said that although they had been experiencing acute water shortage for the last 15 days, they could not lodge their complaints as the KWSB’s North Nazimabad executive engineer’s telephone (No 6625519) had been lying out-of-order since long.

People from other affected localities also complained of persisting water shortage, saying that in the absence of piped water they had no choice but to consume sub-soil unhygienic water at the cost of their health or purchase private tankers at exorbitant rates.

They regretted that KWSB officials had not yet managed to help resolve their lingering water issue.

Meanwhile, a former nazim of Orngi Town’s UC-9, Shehnaz Aftab, complained that a number of localities near Pakistan Bazaar and Benazir Colony had been receiving contaminated water since long. KWSB officials concerned had not yet bothered to remove the fault responsible for contamination, she said.

Claiming that the pipelines supplying water to the affected localities are passing through nullahs near old police station and Pakistan Bazaar, she demanded that all such lines should immediately be replaced, or else water-borne diseases might spread in the localities.

Residents of Zamanabad, Landhi-4, complained that they had been without water for the last over two weeks and suspected involvement of valves men in the suspension of water supply.

They said they have lodged several complaints with the officials concerned but no action has been taken, and are instead being advised to consider laying of a new pipeline on self-help basis.

At least 40 houses in the Rehmani Mosque Street are suffering owing to this attitude of the KWSB, they said, adding people are forced to drink substandard subsoil water.