Not being targeted : DHA, Clifton facing same crisis as rest of city, KWSB

CBC attributes crisis to closure of illegal hydrants.

KARACHI:

The water board says the residents of Defence Housing Authority (DHA) and Clifton are facing the same shortage as the rest of the city.

There is no extraordinary shortage in these neighbourhoods, claimed the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) managing director, Qutubuddin Shaikh. “We are only receiving 550 million gallons per day (MGD) from the Indus source as compared to our demand for 1,250MGD,” he told The Express Tribune.

Shaikh laid the blame for the overall shortage on the electricity utility for carrying out unannounced load-shedding at their pumping stations. “We have to manage the water shortage in the city with our alternate-day system,” he said, predicting the crisis to worsen as the summer approaches.

The Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC) spokesperson, Amir Arab, listed the operation against illegal hydrants, illegal connections and a decline in bulk supply quota as some of the reasons why there is a water shortage. “The operation against illegal hydrants made the water crisis worse,” he said, explaining that most residents of DHA and Clifton were already relying on water tankers. “Now [with the drive against illegal hydrants], the remaining ones are selling tankers at exorbitant rates.”

Referring to earlier reports of an illegal connection to Bilawal House affecting water supply, the KWSB chief said that one or two illegal connections cannot affect the entire DHA and Clifton area. He clarified that there were no illegal connections given to Bilawal House by the KWSB. “Even Bilawal House and Governor House are fulfilling their water demand through tankers,” said Shaikh.

“We are providing seven MGD [to DHA and Clifton] from Korangi Chakra Goth pumping station,” he added. These claims were denied by the CBC spokesperson who insisted that the water board supplied only five MGD to them on Wednesday when their minimum demand was nine MGD.

Playing ‘favourites’

The water crisis may have been caused by several factors but an allegedly illegal connection to Bilawal House has irked the residents of DHA and Clifton. “A litmus test for the drive against hydrants, launched by the KWSB and the Rangers, will be to disconnect the illegal water supply line to Bilawal House and other high-rise buildings in the area,” claimed a Clifton resident. “The water mafia is very strong and no one can touch them.”

Junior officers at KWSB seem to agree with these sentiments. “Corrupt officials as political workers of various parties are providing illegal connections,” said a KWSB worker on the condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Peoples Party media coordinator Waqar Mehdi claimed the recent short fall is due to large number of high-rise buildings in the area. “When Bilawal House was constructed in 1988, the KWSB gave a water connection and that’s the one being used to this day,” he said.

Mehdi claimed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf was using the shortage as a means for political scoring. “You can ask the KWSB managing director if they have provided another water connection to Bilawal House,” he said. Even the Defence Association Coordination Committee blamed real estate tycoons and political parties’ headquarters for eating up the city’s resources. The association’s general secretary, Aziz Suharwardy, pointed out how the CBC laid down additional pipelines for certain areas, such as DHA Phase V and Sea View. “The water shortage could not be overcome,” he said, blaming the linemen of misappropriating water.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 13^th, 2015.