KARACHI: Holding placards inscribed with different messages along with a picture of a big black tap and just one drop of water falling from it, the residents of various phases of Defence Housing Authority gathered outside the heavily guarded offices of the Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC) at Khayaban-i-Rahat on Thursday to protest severe water shortage.

Mohammad Najeeb Wali, a resident of DHA Phase Four, and himself a former CBC vice president, said that he came with the other residents to raise his voice on the issue of water scarcity in DHA and demand its equal distribution through the pipelines. “Sale of water is not on. We want it from the pipelines in our water tanks, the way it is supposed to reach us,” he said.

“The president of Pakistan, the chairman of Senate and the chief minister of Sindh are all DHA residents yet this is where we face the severest water shortage. If they can’t intervene and fix the water problem here, please tell us how they can solve the country and the province’s problems?” he asked. “I request the corps commander of Karachi to kindly intervene in this matter, because all else seems to have failed,” he said.

Agitated further by CBC’s response to the protesters by calling in additional security in the form of three police mobile vans and the chained gates with cement blockades placed at the front while the private guards kept an eye on the protesters from the inside, the DHA resident got hold of a megaphone and said that they were all peaceful citizens and not a rowdy crowd that would hurl stones at them.

“Kindly solve our issue of water shortage and we will place garlands around your neck and send you letters of thanks. But if you don’t care, we give you a 15-day ultimatum after which we will hold a press conference where all your misdeeds will be shared with the public,” he warned, while adding that he expected the CBC to make public how much tax they collected and share with the residents the minutes of their board meetings.

“We also want a private auditor to be brought into the picture to look at where all the money is going,” he said.

Another protester, Anwar Haider, resident of Phase Five, said that they paid their property taxes, which included water charges, yet they were charged money for CBC tankers. “I want to know on what basis do we, the taxpayers, have to also pay Rs500 for each tanker that the CBC or DHA sends,” he said.

Mohammad Sohail from Phase Two extension said that the CBC had announced around four months back the setting up of at least four reverse osmosis (RO) plants near their hydrants. “What happened to those RO plants? They could have solved many of our water woes but there has been no mention of them recently,” he asked.

Gul Jafri, a resident of Phase Six, said: “I often wonder where all the water goes. They get so much water from the Water Board. But once it enters DHA, it just evaporates or what? How come none of us gets water? How come we all have to buy water?” she asked.

No one from the CBC was available to speak to the media.

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2017