Drops of life: Ample water for ice factories, none for residents

Residents brave dry spells even though Sukkur is situated on bank of River Indus

SUKKUR: Sukkur, the third largest city of Sindh, is situated on the right bank of River Indus. Despite that, residents are often forced to brave dry spells for one reason or the other. Interestingly, the ice factories are being supplied water as per their needs.

As if the scorching heat was not enough to test the patience of Sukkur residents, the North Sindh Urban Services Corporation (NSUSC) is being blamed for creating acute shortage of drinking water. For the last 10 days, residents of most of the areas of Sukkur, including, Old Sukkur, Numaish Road, Mirani Muhalla, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Qureshi Road, different colonies of New Pind, New Goth, Shalimar, Mission Road, Neem Ki Chari and Gharibabad, have been facing a severe drinking water crisis. Since its establishment in 2011, NSUSC has spent millions of rupees to better the water supply and drainage system. The funds, unfortunately, seem to have gone to the drain as no improvement can be seen.

When on one hand citizens are without a drop of water, ice factories are being supplied with ample water on the other, leaving the residents perplexed and angry. It was learnt that the ice factories owners are paying bribes to the incharge of waterworks who, in turn, is supplying water to them round the clock without any break, said an official associated with the ice factories, requesting anonymity. He added that this man has been enjoying his post as the waterworks incharge for the last 10 years or more and, being the blue-eyed boy of senior officials, nobody dares to remove him. When contacted, the owners of the ice factories refused to comment on the situation.



Requesting anonymity, an officer in NSUSC told The Express Tribune that NSUSC authorities are pinning the blame of water crisis on the hours-long power suspension in the city. He said that waterworks is equipped with heavy-duty generators, which are supposed to run in the absence of electricity. However, the generators remain non-functional most of the time. Besides this, persons belonging to a certain political party have been posted as the chairman and others, he added.

According to residents of Takkar Muhalla, Gharibabad, New Pind, New Goth and other areas, acute shortage of water prevails and NSUSC officials openly demand bribes for supplying water. Noor Mohammad, Hamid Ali and other residents of New Pind told The Express Tribune that water is supplied to their locality after an interval of two to three days. Sometimes, water is supplied for not more than an hour but if bribe is paid, it is supplied for many hours, they claimed.

Blame game

NSUSC operations director Masar Dayo was 'in a meeting' when contacted. After three hours, the officer did not attend the phone. NSUSC managing director Syed Mehmood Shah, in a reply to a text message, shifted the onus of water shortage on the power breakdowns. He further said that there is 'no shortage of water' in the main areas of Sukkur. However, he added, there is water shortage in some areas due to prolonged power breakdowns.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 31^st, 2016.