A cry for water: People take to the streets against prevailing crises

Hundreds of protesters block Jehangir Road against load-shedding, water shortage.

KARACHI:

Karachi, a city already marred by overpopulation and unemployment, presents an even bleaker picture with the severe water crisis and intense load-shedding looming large in its face.

Irked by power and water cuts in the brutal heat, people took to the streets on Thursday at Jehangir Road and the main thoroughfare witnessed its worst kind of unrest. Hundreds of people, including women and children, came out and blocked the street by burning tyres and placing large stones. They claimed that the power outage has been going on for 18 hours.

"I don't know where to go," said a perplexed, 20-year-old Ahmed who lives in Martin Quarters. "We don't have electricity and water since Wednesday night."



He said that the residents registered several complaints before coming out on the streets. The complaint centres of both departments remained unmoved for a long time which angered the residents. "The K-Electric has sent bills of Rs27,000 for my house," said Ahmed. "We have no other option but to commit suicide or take to the streets."

The spokesperson of K-Electric talked about the prevailing crisis in the Jehangir Road neighbourhood. He said that most of the feeders in this area incur very high losses as the residents are involved in large-scale electricity theft.

"The utility is conducting load-shedding in the high-loss area for a maximum 7.5 hours," he said. "If load-shedding is lasting for longer than that, it means there is a fault due to the high number of kundas [illegal connections]."

He said that the people should pay their dues in order to avoid such type of chaos. "Making trouble in the streets will not work," he said. "They should just pay the bills."

Talking about the water crisis, the spokesperson for Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) repeated the board's usual rote-learned rhetoric. According to him, it was due to the unannounced load-shedding at the pumping stations.

"Sometimes, the existing crisis doubles due to load-shedding in the area's pumping stations," he said while commenting on the situation in Jehangir Road neighbourhood. "As long as K-Electric continues its load-shedding at our pumping stations, this crisis will also go on."

However, 60-year-old protester Shemshad Begum did not agree with the spokespersons of K-Electric and KWSB. According to her, the residents mostly pay their dues to both the utilities.

"It is nothing but mismanagement," she claimed. "Both the utilities are involved in massive corruption." She added that the government should step up and redress the issue of corruption in these departments to provide some relief to the residents of the metropolis.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 15^th, 2015.