KARACHI, Aug 2: Around 4,500 houses in Orangi Town's Union Council No-9 have been receiving contaminated water supply for about last two months in the wake of a ruptured pipeline, passing underneath a nullah near Pakistan Bazaar.

Besides, another 2,000 houses in Orangi Town's Benazir Colony have been deprived of water for the last one month, as the pipeline supplying water to their locality had got damaged during cleaning works undertaken at a nullah.

UC-9 Nazim Shehnaz Aftab told Dawn that a 15-inch dia pipeline, which passed beneath a nullah near Pakistan Bazaar, got damaged about two months back, and since then the localities hooked to it were receiving filthy water.

She deplored that although several localities of UC-9, including Makhdoom Shah Colony, Habib Bank Quarters, Junaid Nagar, Salimabad and Dabba Morr, were getting contaminated water for the last one month, the KWSB officials had not yet bothered to repair the pipeline despite a number of complaints had been lodged with them.

"I have informed the KWSB managing director, chief engineer and the XEN concerned about the damaged pipeline and the menace of contaminated water, but no measures have, so far, been taken to plug the damaged pipeline," she deplored, saying that in the absence of piped water, the residents of the affected houses had no other choice but to purchase water from private tankers or donkey-carts.

According to her, a tanker in her UC was being sold from Rs450 to 500, while a donkey-cart was charging Rs90. Claiming that filthy water of the nullahs was seeping into the damaged pipelines, she demanded the city nazim and the KWSB managing director to direct the officials concerned to immediately repair both the pipelines, or else some epidemic disease might spread in the affected localities.