KARACHI: The collapse of the water supply along with gas and electricity outages turned the three-day festivities of Eidul Azha into a hardship for millions of citizens of Karachi, who struggled to cook, bathe, and endure the scorching weather.

Across large parts of Karachi, taps remained dry, gas pressure collapsed, and power failed, leaving families distressed and furious at the three utilities due to their failure to ensure supply during the three-day festival when it was needed most.

The most crippling blow came from the gas and power utilities, which continued to play “hide and seek” all day, despite their claims of “uninterrupted supply”.

The gas company claimed uninterrupted supply during Eid, but residents in several areas reported no gas or extremely low pressure.

City residents flay three utilities for failure to ensure uninterrupted supply during Eid days

Muhammad Asif, resident of Federal B. Area, said that the gas pressure was so low that they couldn’t even boil water for tea, let alone cook any meat.

Farida Begum, resident of North Karachi, said she had borrowed a cylinder from her sister just to make something for the kids. “What kind of Eid is this?” she wondered.

Residents of Saddar and nearby areas said low gas pressure made it impossible to cook at home. “I had to take meat to a restaurant to get it cooked for my family, and they charged a hefty amount,” one resident said.

A spokesperson for the Sui Southern Gas Company claimed uninterrupted gas supply was ensured during three days of Eid and the utility received “no complaints” of suspension from any part of the city.

He did acknowledge, however, that low pressure occurred in areas where the use of gas suction devices was rampant.

Water woes

While the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation said it had restored the routine 650 million gallon per day (MGD) supply on the eve of Eid, water shortages persisted in several localities.

“We haven’t seen a drop in the past three days, said Saima Bibi, a resident of Landhi. “We bought a tanker at Rs8,000 just for Eid,” she said.

Another woman, resident of Saudabad, said that her children had not bathed since Chand Raat. “We celebrate Eid to share happiness. This year, we only shared suffering. This is Karachiites Eid,” she dejectedly said.

Similar complaints came from Malir, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Liaquatabad, and the old city areas, where families struggled to get water for daily use.

“We had qurbani meat lying in buckets for hours but no water to wash it,” said a resident of New Karachi.

Power outages

Complaints of power outages also poured in from several parts of the city, though the K-Electric claimed that “no unannounced loadshedding was carried out in any part of the city”.

Residents said there was no respite from loadshedding during Eid days.

“Power kept playing hide and seek on the first day of Eid, on top of the scheduled outages,” said Imran Khokhar, resident of Hijrat Colony.

A resident of Lyari said that they had sacrificed in the morning and by evening the meat was spoiling as the fridge got six to eight hours of power all day. “Fans were dead. We sat sweating. That was our Eid,” he said.

Officials said that in some areas people took to the streets and blocked main roads in protest over prolonged outages on Eid days.

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2026