KARACHI, April 26: At a time when various parts of the city are in the grip of acute water shortage, the KWSB is applying a 24-hour-long closure of the supply (from 8am Thursday to 8am Friday) in four towns of the city.
The towns and their localities which will go dry for 24 hours, starting from 8am Thursday include entire Malir and Shah Faisal Towns, Landhi Town’s union councils Nos 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 10, Awami Colony, Zaman Town, Korangi Town’s union councils Nos 11 and 12 and its industrial area, Bilal Colony, Gulzar Colony and Karnali Basti.
A number of important installations, such as National Oil Refinery, PAF Masroor Base, PNS Karsaz and Mehran, would also remain without water during the closure period.
A KWSB spokesman said the closure was being applied to replace a 36-inch valve in Landhi’s Feature Colony and normal water supply in all the affected localities would be restored by 8am on Friday.
SHORTAGE: Complaints of acute water shortage continue to pour in newspaper offices from different parts of the city on Wednesday.
Most of such complaints have been received from Mehmoodabad, Ashraf Colony, Clifton’s Block 2, North Nazimabad’s blocks C, H, L, S and T, North Karachi’s sectors 11-C/1, 7-A, Gulshan-i-Iqbal’s blocks 4, 4-A, 13-D, 13-D/1, Kharadar, Mithadar, Burnes Road, parts of Gizri, Saudia Colony’s Sector 8-A and 8-B.
Residents of the affected localities deplored that although they have been experiencing acute water shortage for more than one-and-a-half months, the KWSB officials concerned seem least interested in resolving their lingering issue.
They demanded of the city Nazim and the KWSB’s managing director to direct the engineers concerned to help resolve the persisting water problem as they cannot afford to buy private tankers for such a long period.
N. NAZIMABAD: The residents of North Nazimabad’s Block ‘L’ have been facing water shortage for the last four months. The worst-hit are the residents of apartment buildings situated along the main road of Block `L’ (from Five-Star traffic intersection to Landi Kotal roundabout).
The affected residents of these flats told Dawn that previously they used to receive regular supply which met their requirements but suddenly the situation has changed and now they receive water not only on alternative days but also for a much shorter duration which is insufficient to meet the needs of flat residents. The worst-hit apartments are United Centre, Al-Nusrat Square, Abdullah Arcade and Adeel Centre etc.
MEETING: The KWSB’s MD, Brig Iftikhar Haider, has exhorted the officials of the board to ensure equitable distribution of water in every nook and corner of the city.
He also directed the officials to attend to public complaints promptly.
Presiding a meeting of the KWSB’s chief engineers, SEs and XENs, he said that areas which do not get water during power breakdowns be supplied water beyond their schedule of getting water.
