KARACHI, Nov 24: The KWSB in a major crackdown against private hydrants, on Wednesday, disconnected about 60 illegal connections which 27 private hydrants had taken illegally from main pipelines of 66, 54 and 33-inches diameter.
The hydrants which had illegal connections from 66-inch dia Hub Trunk Main, 54-inch North-East Karachi Main and 33-inch Hub Trunk Main are situated in Gadap, SITE and Baldia towns.
The KWSB officials accompanied by a heavy posse of Rangers and police of the concerned Town in its campaign against illegal connections, disconnected water connections of 12 hydrants in Gadap Town's Ayub Goth, two hydrants in SITE Town's Manghopir and 13 in Baldia Town as all these hydrants had taken illegal connections from 54-inch dia North-East Karachi Main, 66-inch dia Hub Trunk Main and 33-inch dia Hub Trunk Main and thus had created an artificial water shortage in all these towns merely to boost the sale of private tankers drawing water from their hydrants.
Though the police could not apprehend the owners of such illegal hydrants, they managed to arrest some of the staff. The entire operation was monitored by the KWSB's chief engineer (Water Distribution), Asudomal and superintending engineers and executive engineers of the towns concerned.
A heavy posse of Rangers and police along with the concerned Town's police officers and SHOs was present during the drive against illegal connections to ward of any law and order situation.
The KWSB chief engineer, Mr Asudomal, told Dawn that though the number of hydrants whose illegal connections were severed on Wednesday was 27, the actual number of hydrants which had illegal connections from the main pipelines were were more than 60.
He warned the owners of all those hydrants which had taken similar illegal connections to voluntarily disconnect such connections or else stern action would be taken against them. Asked how many more such illegal hydrants could still be operating in the city, he replied there will be around 30 or so hydrants which are flourishing on KWSB water.