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HYDERABAD, Jan 7: Residents of major cities and towns of Sindh are facing an acute water shortage in the wake of receding Indus River. There is no water for drinking, cooking, ablution and bathing in Hyderabad and Sukkur -the two cities situated on the banks of Indus River.
In Hyderabad, residents of different localities blocked main roads on Friday in protest against the non-availability of water in their areas for the past several days. Their protest began after juma prayers and continued till late evening.
Residents of Fakir-jo-Pir, Pinjra pole, Bakra Mandi and Ghaushala blocked roads and burnt tyres, suspending normal flow of traffic. They claimed that they were neither provided tankers nor water supply had been restored despite their repeated demands.
They pointed out that water was not available even for ablution. WASA officials claimed that the areas were supplied water from the Akram Wah on Thursday afternoon.
They said earlier three feet of water was not crossing the barriers in the canals for that reason proper supply could not be ensured. They said the DCO and DPO had undertaken to ensure water to these areas through tankers called from Karachi.
SUKKUR: Residents of the city staged a demonstration in front of the press club and attacked the TMO office and broke its window glasses, doors and other furniture, following the non-supply of water in the city for the last seven days.
They told the newsmen that a man died in the Takkar area where there was no water to give bath to the body. They said even after a lapse of seven days, the municipal authorities had failed miserably to supply water to the residents.
Later, the protestors attacked the Taluka Municipal Office and broken window glasses, windows, doors and other furniture. On information, the B-section police rushed to the scene and arrested 15 protestors but police declined to disclose their names.
Earlier, the protestors pelted stones at the shops in the Minaro Market to force the shopkeepers to close their shops against the non-supply of water by the municipal authorities.
As a result, three people including Zubair Ahmed and others were injured. Police arrested five protestors but their names were not ascertained. Scores of inmates of the Ayub gate and the Railways colony staged a sit-in at Ayub Gate and blocked traffic for about two hours by putting empty water coolers and other utensils at the road.
An all parties' conference was held in the press club, Sukkur, which was attended by the local leaders of the People's Partly Parliamentarians, JUI-Sindh, Muslim League (N), Sindh National Front, Sindh Taraqi Pasand Party, and Sukkur Shahri Ittehad.
The leaders said though Sukkur was situated on the bank of Indus but its inmates were longing for a drop of water for the last seven days which clearly showed incapability of the administration.
