LAHORE, July 5: The water crisis which began with the breaking down of three tube wells in Nehru Park (Sandah), Sabzazar (H-Block) and national Park (Sandah) a few days ago has peaked now with an increase in mugginess and loadshedding.

Residents of these localities say that every day they have to spend hours in lines to get a few bucket of waters from mobile tanks of the Water and Sanitation authority (Wasa).

A Wasa official says: “The wells at Nehru Park and Sabzazar stopped working after the subsoil water level depleted and the tubewell drew sand-mixed water.” Requesting anonymity, he said the National Park tubewell broke down because of non-stop running to meet water demands in the area.

Mukhtar Ali, a resident of Nehru Park told Dawn, they were already reeled from loadshedding, now the severe water crisis had created a drought-like situation in their area.

He held the Pakistan Muslim League-N government responsible for the crisis. “We voted the PML-n in general elections with a view that the party would perform well. So far, its performance on water front is disappointing,” he said.

WASA Managing Director Dr Javaid Iqbal said although he was trying hard to ensure uninterrupted provision of water to people in the city.

“The Nehru Park well’s bore has been completed and is under a testing phase. The tubewell has been installed and water supply to Nehru Park would be started in a couple of days. Similarly, technical issues at Sabzazar and National Park tubewells have been fixed and people would start receiving water from their taps soon,” he added.

“Wasa staff is working overtime to ensure water supplies to the residents,” he said.

DEMOLISHING: Lahore Development Authority’s (LDA’s) town planning wing on Friday demolished five structures in PIA Housing Scheme, PCSIR Staff Road, Punjab Govt Employees Housing Scheme and Employees Housing Scheme.

DISTRIBUTION: Seventeen motorcycles were distributed to LDA employees through a lucky draw on Friday. Those who were given motorcycles included Waseem Ashraf (computer operator), Nazar Fareed (gardener), Muhammad Mushtaq (naib qasid), Hafiz Irfan Ashraf (sub engineer), Muhammad Khalid (steno), Nawab Ali (patwari), Shafiq Ahmed (naib qasid), Imran Hussain (driver), Muhammad Yaqoob (driver), Altaf Hussain (junior clerk), Rahat Hussain (steno), Umair Ahmed (naib qasid), Munwar Hussain (driver), Muhammad Rizwan Shahzada (sub engineer), Muhammad Afzal (junior clerk), Zohaib Yaseen (data entry operator) and Ghazanfar Ali (driver).

SCHEDULE: LDA offices will observe a six-day working week from Monday to Saturday from 8:00am to 3:00pm. However, the offices of LDA’s headquarters wing, Engineering Wing and TEPA will work five days a week from Monday to Friday from 8:00am to 4:00pm. Prayer break will be observed from 12:30 pm to 2:00 pm on Friday, says a press release.