KARACHI   -   Karachi Water and Sewerage Board on Sunday announced halting supply of water through commercial tankers, keeping in view the ongoing hot temperature in city and the upcoming Eid festival.

The KWSB will supply water from its six hydrants to the consumers on government rates and special counters have been established at these hydrants to facilitate the masses, said the water and authority of the metropolis in a statement.

These directives were given by the KWS MD Engg Asad Ullah Khan. “The water supplies from government tankers will be ensured at all residential areas and mosques in order to ensure smooth supply of water in the city,” said the MD KWSB. He further said that the online tanker service of the KWSB was also activated for booking while bookings could also be made via telephone and the KWSB app.

The steps from the KWSB seems have been implemented after Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) along with its provincial lawmakers staged a sit-in outside the KWSB head office against water shortage in the city during holy month of Ramazan.

On May 28, Opposition Leader in Sindh Assembly Firdaus Shamim Naqvi while addressing the protest outside KWSB headquarters said that water shortage in the city could be controlled through fair distribution. “Local Governmemt Minister Saeed Ghani should stop doing wrong things and maintain the water lines to ensure distribution of water in fair manner. The  Peoples Party should fear from the time when we will go to Bilawal House and hold sit-in there. Naqvi said that ‘ineligible’ Sindh Government has kept the water of Karachi for last eleven years, adding that Minister Local Bodies was becoming rich day by day and the citizens of Karachi were becoming poor.

He said Hub Dam is quite filled with water and we can get 85 MGD Water from it. “It is essential to devise fair system for distribution of water,” he added. The Opposition Leader in Sindh Assembly said  that the provincial government has become the worst enemy of Karachi through its anti-city policy. “Today PPP is the abbreviations of Papa, Phuppo and Pappu. We will get the rights of Karachi city,” Naqvi added.

Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) has also blamed the provincial government for its inability to control water supplies in the city despite rainfall and filling of Hub Dam reservoirs.