KARACHI, Nov 5: Private tankers did a roaring business, as various parts of the city either went dry or got scant supply of water on Friday. The worst-hit localities included parts of Garden East , Soldier Bazaar, Clifton's blocks 2, 4 and 5, Mehmoodabad No 6, Akhtar Colony, Manzoor Colony, different cooperative housing societies situated on either side of main Shaheed-i-Millat Road, Malir's Saudia Colony, Gulshan-i-Iqbal's blocks 2 and 13-D/3, different sectors of Orangi, Baldia Town and North Karachi.

Besides, complaints of persisting water shortage have also been received from the residents of Jamshed Town's UC-4, Kharadar, Shikarpur Colony, Saddar, Old City Area, Cosmopolitan Society, parts of Lyari and different localities of Baghdadi's UC-5.

Residents of the affected localities complained that in the absence of piped water they had no choice but to purchase water through private tankers at exorbitant rates.

A resident of Clifton's block-2 said that private tankers taking advantage of persisting water shortage were charging from Rs500 to Rs600 per tanker. A fleet of tankers drawing water from both the private and KWSB hydrants, being managed by Rangers, were seen running on main thoroughfares of the city, creating bottlenecks in the smooth flow of traffic.

Although the frequent movement of tankers have already ruined a number of roads owing to their leaking nozzles, the authorities concerned seem least interested in providing relief to the people by shifting or closing down all such hydrants which have become a source of nuisance.

According to a councillor of Orangi Town's UC-9, the localities where acute water shortage problem had been recurring since long include Ghausia Colony, Makhdoom Shah Colony, Ghaziabad, Chishti Nagar, Aziz Nagar, Ali Nagar.

"In fact the main cause of persisting water shortage in our localities is the leaking pipelines whereby not only a considerable quantity of water is wasted but people get the supply with a low pressure," the councillor said. Besides, he said that water coming out from leaking pipelines had also damaged a number of streets of these localities.