KARACHI, May 20: Various parts of the city, especially Gulshan-i-Iqbal and Jamshed Towns, have been facing a water crisis for the past week in the current hot and sultry weather.

The hard-hit areas include Gulistan-i-Jauhar’s blocks 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 13, 14, 15, 17 and 19; Gulshan blocks 2, 10, 10-A, 13-D, 13-D/1 and 13-D/2; parts of PECHS Block 6; Jinnah Cooperative Housing Society; Al-Hamra Society; Sharfabad; Mehmoodabad; Manzoor Colony; Defence View; Site Town’s Asifabad; parts of Pak Colony; Site industrial area; Baldia Town’s Ittehad Colony; Orangi No 11½; Urdu Chowk; Benazir Colony; Baloch Colony; Ghausia Colony; Pakistan Chowk; Haqqani Chowk and Clifton’s blocks 2, 4, and 5.

Though the KWSB officials attributed the water shortage to power breakdowns, which affected pumping stations on Sunday, residents of the affected localities of both Gulshan and Jamshed Towns claimed that the water shortage problem in their localities had been persisting for over a week.Taking advantage of the persisting water shortage, private tankers did a roaring business in the water-starved localities.

Residents of the affected localities said that they had lodged a number of complaints in this regard with the KWSB’s officials concerned. But it seems that that they are least interested in providing relief to them in the hot and humid weather, despite knowing that they cannot afford to purchase water from private tankers for a long time.

People residing in high rise apartments of the affected localities, particularly those in Gulshan and Gulistan-i-Jauhar, complained that in the absence of piped water, they cannot even avail the tanker service.

“Taking undue advantage of our helplessness in getting water through tankers, the KWSB staff and engineers pressurise the flat owners’ welfare associations to grease their palms on a regular basis to ensure not only normal supply, but with good pressure,” office-bearers of a number of apartment buildings of Gulistan-i-Jauhar and Gulshan alleged.

“As long as we keep on making illegal payments to the KWSB’s officials, we continue to get uninterrupted water supply. But whenever we stop obliging them, they either reduce our water supply timings or supply it at a very low pressure,” an elderly resident of a housing complex complained.