KARACHI, July 1: Some parts of Lyari Town remained disturbed as residents took to streets on Saturday to protest against frequent power failures and persisting water crisis.
Holding placards and banners, residents marched on Shah Bhittai Road and blocked the main artery linking Lyari Town with Saddar and Site towns.
The protestors raised slogans against KESC and KWSB officials and burnt tyres disrupting the flow of vehicular traffic on the road. Closure of Shah Bhittai Road led to worst type of traffic jams on link roads and narrow streets. An eyewitness said that disturbances erupted after 3pm when residents of Baghdadi and Daryabad union councils, distressed by acute water shortage and frequent power failures, took to the streets and marched on the main artery of the town.
According to the protesters, a number of houses and apartments on Fidha Husain Sheika Road and parts of Daryabad and Nawabad are getting contaminated water for the last two weeks. They said for the past two weeks they were not receiving regular water supply and whatever quantity they received was not fit for human consumption. They also complained about gastroenteritis spread due to the supply of contaminated water in the locality.
They said that they were spending restless nights owing to the frequent power failures and water shortage, which had made their life miserable. During the protests, personnel of law enforcement agencies reached at the spot to prevent any untoward incident. They tried to persuade the protesters for dispersal to get the road cleared for traffic, but the protestors refused.
At the same time Lyari Town Nazim Malik Fayaz and Niab Nazim Abdullah Baloch accompanied by KWSB officials arrived at the troubled spot and held talks with the elders and the elected representatives of local bodies to normalise the situation. The protesters ended their sit-in after they were assured that steps were being taken on emergency basis to solve their problems.Meanwhile, the workers of Pasban Karachi chapter staged a protest demonstration outside the KESC headquarters in Saddar against the prolonged and unannounced load-shedding in different parts of the city, adds PPI.
The protesters chanted slogans against KESC authorities. They were carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans demanding elimination of power interruptions.
Addressing the protesters, Pasban leaders said that the ongoing power failures were forcing the millions of residents to take law in their hands. They alleged that the purpose behind load-shedding was to increase electricity rates and paving grounds compelling the poor to accept these new rates.
They said that electricity tariff had already been raised by 300 per cent for the last five years, but after privatisation the new management of the KESC was allegedly planning to increase power rates.
