KARACHI, June 15: More than a dozen people were injured when the police and the rangers resorted to teargas shelling and baton-charge on protesters demanding water in North Karachi on Sunday.

People living in sectors 2, 3, 5-D/1, and 5-D/2 started assembling around 3pm at a water boosting station near the Khuwaja Ajmer Nagri police station, and raised slogans against the authorities for not ensuring proper water supply to their localities.

They held the water board and the city government responsible for the persisting water crisis, and said they had been suffering because of the apathy of certain officials who were not taking the matter seriously.

The police and rangers reached the spot to control the situation and baton-charged the protesters as they pelted the law-enforcement agencies with stones.

Having failed to cool down people, the LEAs fired teargas shells to disperse them. In turn, the protesters lit bonfire on the main road of their locality, creating a temporary road closure.

A woman, Anwar Begum, suffered injuries and was taken to Abbasi Hospital. Many others also received injuries and were taken to private clinics for first aid. The protesters on this occasion raised slogans against the law-enforcement agencies for “firing shells instead of providing clean drinking water to them”.

The Town Nazim and other representatives of the local government also reached the spot and gave assurances to the people that they would soon be getting piped water. The people remained violent till the evening and dispersed subsequently.

Meanwhile, an acute water shortage persisted in other parts of the city, adding to the miseries of the residents in the current hot and sultry weather.

The hard-hit areas include Lyari, Aurangabad, parts of Keamari Town, blocks 2 and 5 of Clifton, Ranchore Line, Mithadar, Kharadar and different sectors of Orangi, Baldia, North Karachi and Surjani.

In Lyari, the residents of Shah Beg Lane threatened to observe a strike in the area on Monday against persisting water shortage. The call for a strike has been given by the Mohallah Action Committee of Shah Beg Lane.

The residents are demanding restoration of normal water supply to their locality.

In Orangi and Baldia, residents of the affected sectors said prior to the stoppage of supply from the Hub source, they had been getting water every sixth day.

“Since June 3, when a 66-inch dia main pipeline between Hub pumping station and reservoir was burst, we have been getting water with a very low pressure after every six or seven days,” said a councillor of Orangi Town, Aftab Ahmed.

An official of the Water and Sanitation Department attributed water shortage problem in Orangi and Baldia to the curtailment of their supply timings.

Residents of Clifton’s blocks 2 and 5 also said that their localities were without water for the last five days and all their complaints to the concerned officials of the W&S department had fallen on deaf ears.

LYARI: In Lyari, the residents of Ali Mohammad Mohallah said they had been facing water crisis for months.