October 31, 2008	Friday	Ziqa'ad 1, 1429

KARACHI, Oct 30: A number of newly constructed roads, including the signal-free corridor-I, have been exposed to destruction because of the frequent movement of water tankers drawing water from the Low Supply Reservoir (LSR) hydrant situated behind the Civic Centre.

The LSR hydrant which was closed down during the tenure of former city nazim, Naimatullah Khan, when several major adjoining roads and streets of Gulshan-i-Iqbal Block 14 were ruined because of the frequent movement of tankers has been reopened recently to supply water to different areas of the city.

However, with the reopening of the hydrant, not only the major portion of the newly constructed University Road — from Hassan Square to Jail road traffic intersection — but also the other major thoroughfares such as Karsaz Road, Stadium Road and several other streets where the hydrant is located, have once again been exposed to the danger of being ruined owing to the leaking nozzles of water tankers.

Frequent movement of water tankers has also become a nuisance for the people residing in the Gulshan-i-Iqbal’s block 14 who had already suffered a lot in the past because of the presence of the hydrant in their locality.

While talking to Dawn several residents of the area recalled an incident when compounds of many apartment buildings and a nearby Gulshan Public School located adjacent to the hydrant were flooded with water when a wall of the reservoir collapsed three years ago. They said that the water gushing out from the reservoir had caused extensive damaged to the foundations of their apartment buildings and their vehicles which were parked there.

They also recalled that accidents involving water tankers had also become a matter of routine and in that regard they mentioned an incident in which angry people of the locality had set fire to a tanker which had caused a fatal accident in the locality about two-and-a-half year ago.

Meanwhile, residents of localities of Jamshed Town and Garden East, who are experiencing water shortage since past one week, have also attributed the current shortage of water to the reopening of the LSR hydrant.

They have complained that since the water supply pipelines of their localities are linked with the LSR, they are getting less supply of water while the water pressure has also been very low. They say that it is all because of the reopening of the hydrant which is supplying water to water-deficit pockets of the city through tankers.People living in Mohammad Ali Society, Al-Hamra Society, Bangalore Town, Adamjee Nagar, Jinnah Cooperative Housing Society, Karachi Administration Society and all those localities which are located on the either side of the Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar Road have raised similar complaints.Sources in the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board have also confirmed that all the above mentioned localities are being supplied water from the same reservoir which has now been turned in to a hydrant.

When the chief engineer concerned, Najam Siddiqui, was contacted by Dawn to understand the logic behind the reopening of the LSR hydrant, he said that it had been re-opened temporarily to provide water to Manzoor Colony, Lines Area and some other water-deficient areas of the city.

He said that prior to the re-opening of the LSR hydrant, residents of Manzoor Colony and Lines Area were being supplied water from hydrants set up at the China Ground and other one set up near the Central Prison but after the closure of the China Ground hydrant on the orders of the City Nazim and the Central Jail’s hydrant because of security concerns raised by the Jail authorities, the LSR hydrant was reopened to meet the water needs of the residents of Manzoor Colony, Lines Area and some other water-starved localities of the metropolis.

He, however, assured that the LSR hydrant would be closed in a next two-and-a-half months when a 24-inch diameter pipeline construction work which was being laid for opening a new hydrant in Manzoor Colony would be completed.