May 10, 2008	Saturday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 4, 1429

KARACHI, May 9: Residents of Liaquatabad staged a violent demonstration near Teen Hatti on Friday in protest against the suspension of water supply to their households.

They lit a bonfire and attacked passing vehicles with stones on S. M. Taufiq Road causing disruption in the flow of vehicular traffic for about two hours.

The protesters raised slogans against the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board and demanded immediate restoration of the water supply to their localities.

A heavy contingent of police rushed to the scene to bring the situation under control.

The protesters told police officials that they had been facing a shortage of water for a couple of weeks but the KWSB was not responding to their request to rectify the problem.

Meanwhile, the KWSB chief engineer concerned, Mohammad Arif, told Dawn that water supply to some localities around Teen Hatti was affected by the damage to a four-inch-diameter pipe. He maintained that the conduit was damaged during the ongoing excavation for the laying a 48-inch-diameter sewage line in the area.

He claimed that the damaged pipe had since been repaired and normal water supply to the affected localities was restored.

In Korangi, residents of different sectors staged a demonstration in front of the KWSB managing director’s office against the persisting water shortage in their localities for about a month.

The protesters, including women and children, chanted slogans against the KWSB for its indifferent attitude.

Complaints of water shortage were also made by residents of Gulistan-i-Jauhar’s Block 14 and Gulshan-i-Iqbal’s Block 2 and 10.

Refinery badly hit

Officials of the National Oil Refinery (NRL) have warned the KWSB that several of its units will have to be shut down shortly unless the sanctioned quota of water was restored without any further delay.

In a letter to the KWSB managing director, the NRL officials said that the refinery had been experiencing acute water shortage since long.