HYDERABAD, April 13: Wasa and HDA officials found on Tuesday buffaloes in ponds downstream from the Kotri Barrage on Tuesday, from which water is supplied to residents of Latifabad and Hussainabad.

Director General of Hyderabad Development Authority, Mr Ali Ahmed Lund along with the Managing Director of WASA, Mr Kafeel Ahmed, on Tuesday visited the Indus River, downstream from the Kotri Barrage, after consumers in Latifabad and Hussainabad had complained about the contaminated drinking water they had been receiving.

The officials said that the residents of Latifabad Unit Nos. 4, 5, 10 and 11 and Hussainabad were supplied water from downstream Kotri for which two settlement tanks had been installed in Unit No.4 Latifabad, and Hussainabad.

They said that as no water was being released downstream from the Kotri Barrage by the irrigation department, therefore drinking water was being supplied from the Indus River ponds where some water had collected.

The director general took serious notice of the presence of buffaloes in the ponds and instructed the managing director of WASA to check the entry of buffaloes in the riverine ponds forthwith. He said the help of police should also be sought in this regard.

Later, Mr Lund and District Nazim Dr Makhdoom Rafik Zaman talked to the irrigation officials, who said that water will be released downstream from Kotri Barrage within a couple of days to redress the grievances of the consumers.