Residents raid, damage water supply office

Scores of angry residents ransack Old Sukkur’s water works because of chronic water shortages.

SUKKUR: Scores of angry residents ransacked Old Sukkur’s water works when they were unable to perform the funeral rites of a little girl because of chronic water shortages.

The residents chanted slogans against the North Sindh Urban Services Corporation (NSUSC), broke office furniture, burnt tyres and blocked the road for around two hours. They also took an employee, Mushtaq Ahmed Shaikh, hostage while the other workers managed to escape. The protesters allegedly tied Shaikh to a chair and beat him up.

On Sunday, Abdul Khaliq Lashari’s two-year-old daughter, Roshni, passed away in Microwave Colony, Sukkur. However, there was no water available for her relatives to wash her body before burial. Residents have been suffering a water shortage for a few days now and this was the last straw.

“Microwave Colony and some other areas, including New Pind, haven’t received a drop of water in the past four days,” Abdul Khaliq Lashari told The Express Tribune. He said that when things get so bad that they no longer have water to perform ‘ghusal’ for the dead, it becomes a question of humanity.

Ubaidullah Bhutto, a social worker in Microwave Colony, told The Express Tribune that they asked the water works incharge, Mushtaq Ahmed Shaikh, to supply water to them so they could complete the funeral rituals. “Shaikh told us that there is no water in the river,” said Ubaidullah. “When we replied that there is ample water in the river, he demanded we pay Rs1,000 and then he will open the water supply for the locality.”

Ubaidullah said that the water works authorities only supply water to their locality twice a week and residents usually have to fetch water from the hand pumps installed in the low-lying areas of the city, which is expensive for all them.

He also said that Shaikh, the hostage, called his officer incharge for help but he didn’t come. In the end, no water was made available and they had to go to the hand pumps for water to perform the funeral rites.

NSUSC Sukkur Assistant Director Manzoor Ahmed Bachkani denied Ubaidullah’s statements and said that the water was released immediately and he himself has taken rounds of different areas to ensure there is no shortage. He explained that the closure of Sukkur Barrage from January 6 to January 20 had resulted in a shortage of water in the city, but now the closure is over and enough water is being supplied to the residents.

“NSUSC has taken over water supply, drainage and sanitation from January 1. We are trying hard to improve the situation but it will take some time, the system has been in shambles for years,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th,  2011.