NAWABSHAH, Jan 28 The city is facing acute shortage of water in the wake of closure of Gajrahwah and Rohri canal, main sources of drinking water for inhabitants of the district.

The irrigation department has closed all main canals originating from Sukkur Barrage, including Rohri and Nusrat Canal, for maintenance. The canals will remain closed from Jan 6 to 20.

The Gujrahwah canal originating from Nusrat canal and Rohri canal supply approximately 20-30 million gallons to the city on a daily basis. Manuabad, Essarpura, Gharibabad, Masjid Road, Hospital Road, Chakra Baazar, Camp No2, Police Lines, Mehran Colony, Taj Colony and Bhangwar Colony are the worst hit by water shortage.

Taluka Officer Regulation Huzoor Bux Soomro said that the municipal administration's storage tanks near Gajrahwah were built in 1978 and they could store for only two to three days.

He said that they were supplying soil water from tube-wells, which could meet only 50 per cent of requirement. Besides, 12-hour loadshedding was seriously hampering water supply schedule, he said.

He held the irrigation department responsible for water supply and expressed the hope that the supply would resume by Jan 31st and it would take a week more to reach Nawabshah.

He said the irrigation department must complete maintenance work within scheduled time because the delay was affecting hundreds of thousands of people who were solely dependent the canals for meeting their water needs.

The executive engineer of Nusrat irrigation division was not available for comments.

A low-ranking official said on condition of anonymity that the municipal authorities were informed about the closure of canals and advised to store water for the city.