Pakistan: People in Karachi facing misery due to acute water shortage

People are reportedly facing water shortage as the water supply from one of the main supply lines of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board was disrupted due to an abrupt power breakdown on Sunday, reports Dawn News.

People are facing hardship at a time when the nation is observing Ramadan.

While the short supply of water continued to affect whole of the city, the worst-hit areas were Landhi, Korangi, Qauidabad, Bin Qasim and adjoining neighbourhood after a 72-inch diameter line was affected due to power suspension by the K-Electric at the Dhabeji pumping station at 11:05am, reports Dawn News.

In some areas, people also took to streets protesting against the non-availability of tap water in their respective localities where what they called a tanker mafia was reported to have been fleecing people by overcharging.

Enraged residents of Buffer Zone held a demonstration against the water utility in front of the Nazimabad pumping station, chanting slogans and demanding for immediate restoration of water supply to their locality.

They said that their locality had been without a drop of water for the past three weeks and warned that they would hold a protest in front of the KWSB head office if the water supply was not restored to their area.

A protesting resident, Manzoor Hasan, told Dawn News that earlier water flowed once a week, but his area was without water for the past many days.

“I have to purchase water through small tankers; though it is too hard for me due to financial constraints,” he said.