Drops of life: Water shortage irks residents in Muharram

It became extremely difficult to carry out our religious practices, says a resident of Gulistan-e-Jauhar

KARACHI:

Gulistan-e-Jauhar suffered another major water crisis as supply remained short during the first 10 days of Muharram in different parts of the city.

Contrary to what the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KW&SB) claimed about uninterrupted water supply during Ashura, water seemed to have dried up from the pipelines, leaving several houses without any water in Gulistan-e-Jauhar.



A resident of Block 14, Zoha Abbas, told The Express Tribune that not a single drop of water had trickled down in her tank during the last two weeks. "It became extremely difficult for us to carry out our religious practices during Ashura," she said.

A resident of Safar Omega View, Block 13, Zubair, said that while water supply in their apartments generally remained erratic, during the 10 days of Muharram, there was no water in their taps.

According to a security guard of Imambargah Sahibuz Zaman in Gulistan-e-Jauhar's Block 14, the imambargah remained deprived of water during the first 10 days of Muharram. He said that no water had been supplied to the imambargah in the last two weeks. However, he claimed to have received free of charge water tankers from the KWSB.

Imambargah Mehdi Akhiruz Zaman in Block 19 also faced acute water shortage. According to one of the officials of the imambargah, Mufassir, the water shortage remained acute during the first 10 days of Muharram. He said that they had to manage the shortage with water tankers, which were not provided to them free of charge.

The superintendent engineer of Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Riaz Ghori, told The Express Tribune that water could not be supplied to few areas of Gulistan-e-Jauhar because of power outages at Dhabeji pumping station and also because the 36-inch main line burst. "Else the water supply in the rest of Gulshan Town remained uninterrupted during Ashura," he said, assuring that water supply will soon be restored in the affected areas.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 26^th, 2015.