Ghotki’s residents parched as pumps remain broken
Two broken motors installed at the waterworks yet to be repaired.
SUKKUR:
Several neighbourhoods in Khanpur Mahar, a town in Ghotki, have been left without drinking water for over three weeks as two of the four motors installed at the waterworks are broken and have yet to be repaired.
The town’s municipal authorities have been careful not to overheat the pumps that are still working, but at the same time they have ignited fury among the residents. Only one pump is being operated at any given time. This is not sufficient to meet the needs of the town, where around 50,000 people live. Many localities, including Mirani Muhalla, Shaikh Muhalla, Abbasi Muhalla and Dayo Muhalla are facing acute shortage of drinking water.
Some of the residents hire donkey carts to fetch water from the hand pumps installed at the Mahar Wah and Bambli Wah embankments. Opportunists have emerged and are selling a drum of water for as high as Rs150 and water-starved residents are compelled to pay up.
The general secretary of Shahree Ittehad Khanpur Mahar and the president of Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz’s Khanpur Mahar chapter, Jan Mohammad Mahar, said that the taluka municipal officer had turned a blind eye to the problem. “The taluka municipal officer is usurping the funds and nothing is being spent on the welfare of the town. We have decided to protest against the corrupt officer until he is removed.”
The taluka municipal officer, Khangarh Banho Mahar, told The Express Tribune that the allegations of corruption against him were false. He admitted that two of four pumps were broken and this has caused a water shortage, but not to the extent that some people are claiming. “The broken pumps are being repaired and will start working in a couple of days.”
Feroz Khan Bullo, a sub-divisional officer from the public health engineering department, said, “Our work is to lay the supply and drainage lines. It is the municipal authority’s headache to run the system.”
He said that four pumps are installed at the town’s waterworks. Two of them are supposed to be operated for the first half of the day and the others are operated in the next 12-hour shift. He said that since two of them are broken, the municipal authorities are juggling the remaining two and this has caused a water shortage.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 23rd, 2012.
Several neighbourhoods in Khanpur Mahar, a town in Ghotki, have been left without drinking water for over three weeks as two of the four motors installed at the waterworks are broken and have yet to be repaired.
The town’s municipal authorities have been careful not to overheat the pumps that are still working, but at the same time they have ignited fury among the residents. Only one pump is being operated at any given time. This is not sufficient to meet the needs of the town, where around 50,000 people live. Many localities, including Mirani Muhalla, Shaikh Muhalla, Abbasi Muhalla and Dayo Muhalla are facing acute shortage of drinking water.
Some of the residents hire donkey carts to fetch water from the hand pumps installed at the Mahar Wah and Bambli Wah embankments. Opportunists have emerged and are selling a drum of water for as high as Rs150 and water-starved residents are compelled to pay up.
The general secretary of Shahree Ittehad Khanpur Mahar and the president of Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz’s Khanpur Mahar chapter, Jan Mohammad Mahar, said that the taluka municipal officer had turned a blind eye to the problem. “The taluka municipal officer is usurping the funds and nothing is being spent on the welfare of the town. We have decided to protest against the corrupt officer until he is removed.”
The taluka municipal officer, Khangarh Banho Mahar, told The Express Tribune that the allegations of corruption against him were false. He admitted that two of four pumps were broken and this has caused a water shortage, but not to the extent that some people are claiming. “The broken pumps are being repaired and will start working in a couple of days.”
Feroz Khan Bullo, a sub-divisional officer from the public health engineering department, said, “Our work is to lay the supply and drainage lines. It is the municipal authority’s headache to run the system.”
He said that four pumps are installed at the town’s waterworks. Two of them are supposed to be operated for the first half of the day and the others are operated in the next 12-hour shift. He said that since two of them are broken, the municipal authorities are juggling the remaining two and this has caused a water shortage.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 23rd, 2012.