No way out: Residents take to streets in violent protests against water crisis, load-shedding

Say North Nazimabad, North Karachi has had no water supplied for the last 15 days.

KARACHI: Violent protests erupted at North Nazimabad and North Karachi on Sunday after its residents claimed they had had enough with the prolonged power outages and water crisis.

Nearly a hundred residents took to the streets near North Karachi's Power House Chowrangi and North Nazimabad's KDA Chowrangi in the afternoon. They burnt tyres and blocked the streets for a few hours. However, they dispersed peacefully after the law enforcers intervened and assured them their protest has been recorded.



The residents complained that the power supply was cut at 3am on Saturday and it continued till 2pm, for nearly 12 hours. Meanwhile, the K-Electric (K-E) spokesperson insisted they are only conducting announced load-shedding and are not carrying out any outages during sehar and iftar times. "The unannounced load-shedding took place due to line fault or overburden in these areas," he claimed.

However, the residents accused the electricity utility of overbilling their customers. "On one side they [K-E] are involved in overbilling their customers while, on the other side, they are conducting unannounced load-shedding," said a protester in North Nazimabad, Sunail Bhatti. "We have planned to protest in front of the K-electric office today (Monday) against this attitude."

When asked about the overbilling complaint, the K-E spokesperson replied that K-Electric was never involved in overbilling. "If people have any complaints about it, they must meet the relevant officers so their grievances can be addressed," he suggested.

Another protester Khalid Ahmed complained about the shortage of water. Since the Hub Dam dried up, it has become a golden opportunity for the water tanker mafia to fill their own pockets, he said, adding that certain 'black sheep' in the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) are also involved.

"Last night, we bought a water tanker for Rs2,500 and we spend around Rs10,000 a month on water alone," said Ahmed, hoping the authorities would understand their troubles. "I know these protests are useless," he admitted. "Neither will the KWSB improve their infrastructure nor will they closed down the illegal business of water hydrants."

Ahmed demanded the water board maintain a body to formulate comprehensive regulations for water hydrants if they are unable to shut them down completely.

According to the KWSB spokesperson, there are only 16 legal water hydrants while the rest of them are illegal. There are at least 129 illegal hydrants in different parts of the city.

The water tanker association, which represents the owners of water hydrants, insisted they are a registered organisation and that most hydrants are working with the help of KWSB officials. "Everybody knows we have established our office in Shikarpur behind the Peoples' Secretariat," said Water Tanker Ittehad generals secretary Huzur Ahmed. "How is it possible that we are illegal when we have completed our all documentations," he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 14^th, 2014.