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KARACHI, Sept 17: Sale of water fetched illegally from the burst 33-inch dia pipeline in Gulshan-i-Iqbal is in full swing at the cost of the quota meant for the residents of the localities hooked to it.
Water containers, mounted on donkey carts and small mechanized vehicles, are constantly being filled from a pool of water developed around the broken section of the pipeline near the KESC billing office. The water is being sold in other areas hit by shortage.
Residents of block 18 have complained that the illegal fetching and onward sale of water was continuing for more than three weeks but the city government’s water and sanitation department did not bother to get the broken pipeline repaired. Their apathy, they pointed out, had not only been depriving the entire area, hooked to the supply line, of adequate water but also encouraging illegal sale of water.
SHORTAGE: An acute shortage of water persisted in various parts of the city for the fourth consecutive day, Wednesday.
The hard-hit areas include parts of Garden East, Surjani Town, Baldia, Orangi, North Karachi’s sectors 5-A/1 and 5-A/2, North Nazimabad’s Block L, Iqbal Colony near Teen Hatti, Muslim Colony near FTC, green-belt area of block 6 of PECHS, Malir, Landhi, Shah Faisal Colony and block 2 of Clifton.
Residents of the affected localities said that in the absence of piped water, they had no choice but to either buy private tankers’s water at exorbitant rates or consume sub-soil unhygienic water at the cost of their health.
SEWAGE: Filthy water from chocked gutters have accumulated on a number of streets of Burnes Road, particularly Street No 1, creating unhygienic conditions in the entire locality. The pools of filthy water elsewhere in the area has created an ugly sight also.
The affected streets of Burns Road are famous food spots. The sewage has spread up to Shahrah-i-Iraq (formerly Frere Road).
Residents of the affected localities complained that choking of gutters and sewerage lines in their area had become order of the day. They observed that on the one hand, the sewerage lines had outlived their life and on the other, hotel-owners, barbecue shop-owners and vendors did not refrain from flushing all sorts of solid waste as well as oily and greasy material into manholes or other open inlets causing clogging and ultimate trouble to public.
