Residents of Phase 1 Block A of the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) were left high and dry on a hot Friday as both tubewells catering to the block were shut down without prior intimation to the residents, leaving them without water for nearly 24 hours.
Several residents of Blaock A Phase 1 told Pakistan Today during a visit to the locality following complaints of a water shortage crisis there that the DHA Maintenance Department had neither intimated them about closure of the tubewells nor were they allowing the residents to hire private water tankers to fill the water tanks at their homes.
“We woke up on Friday only to find that our taps had run dry. Repeated phone calls to the Block’s maintenance department went unanswered. The staff present at the office later told us that the tubewells had been shut down for repair work on the pipelines and that water supply would resume as soon as the repairs finished. However, it has been nearly 18 hours and there’s no sign of water so far,” Iqrar Hussain, a local resident, told Pakistan Today.
He said that DHA authorities had neither informed the residents about the tubewell closure nor had made any alternate arrangements to meet their water needs. “I made frantic efforts to hire a private water tanker but the DHA authorities refused to let them enter the vicinity. Can the DHA authorities explain what the residents are expected to do in such a situation?”
Samina Mushtaq, another resident, lamented that the DHA authorities had no proper mechanism to inform residents about any such situation. “We could only curse the DHA authorities for this situation as there was no water to bathe or even wash the dishes. Today I felt as if we were in Karachi where people are literally begging for water,” she said, adding that the situation was unexpected in DHA, which is supposedly the city’s most posh locality.
Some residents also claimed that the DHA complaint helpline remained inaccessible as repeated phone calls on their number 35723188 went unanswered.
“No one has picked the helpline number all day long. I’m appalled by the DHA authorities’ apathy towards the residents’ plight,” said Mudassar Raza, a resident of Phase 1.
Employees at the DHA maintenance office told Pakistan Today that water supply would resume in the next couple of hours.
“We will activate the tubewells as soon as electricity returns at 8.15pm,” they said. However, water supply to the block remained blocked when Pakistan Today again contacted the residents to ascertain the situation at midnight.
