Angry crowds storm water hydrants

Citizens protesting against water shortage open valves of water tankers, waste thousands of gallons

KARACHI:

Enraged citizens on Wednesday stormed the Safoora Water Hydrant to protest against the shortage of water in the pipelines.

The protestors opened the valves of the water tankers and wasted millions of gallons on the road.

The crowd also vandalised the premises leading to temporary closure of the facility, officials told The Express Tribune.

The city is in the grip of intense heat, but water was unavailable in the taps in most of the areas and people were forced to purchase it from tankers.

If water was available for the tankers, why not for the supply to households through the pipelines, the protestors said.

According the Karachi Water and Sanitation Corporation (KWSC) supply in the city was badly affected due to bursting of a six-foot wide main water line at the Dhabji pumping station.

The pipeline closure exacerbated the water crisis has affected the water supply in various areas due to which the water crisis has become more serious, they said.

Meanwhile, the citizens, oblivious of the official explanations, have resorted to a unique protest. They stop tankers on the roads, open the valves and waste all the water, due to which water supply from government hydrants has also been severely affected. "If not us, then no one else," is the reason the enraged citizens give to wasting water.

Hydrants closed

KWSC officials said that Safora Hydrant has been closed due to public protest and the following law and order situation.

A similar situation emerged at the Landhi Future Colony Hydrant where people wasted water in the tankers as a protest against lack of supply in the pipelines.

Officials said that electricity supply to the Future Colony Landhi Hydrant has been disrupted for the last three days due to a technical fault.

Similarly, sources said supply of water was suspended from Crush Plant Hydrant One and Two in addition to the Sherpao Colony South Hydrant. Sources of Water Corporation said that only two hydrants in Karachi, Nipa and Sakhi Hasan, were filling tankers.

Five hydrants in the city are closed due to power outages and citizen protests, due to which the water supply in the city was affected, KWSC officers said.

They said that earlier citizens, during protest, wasted water from tankers passing through the roads only. However, now the people were storming the government hydrants in hordes and vandalizing the premises as well as wasting the water in the tankers.

The water situation in the city has become very bad as the supply of water through tankers in the city has been affected.