HYDERABAD: Kotri barrage’s chief engineer has dismissed Wasa officers’ claim about acute water shortage in the river downstream Kotri and said that they have misguided their chief about the water position although sufficient water is available in the river.

The chief engineer Haji Khan Jamali referred in his letter sent to Wasa on Friday to the MD’s Oct 13 letter about acute shortage of water as per XEN water supply Latifabad’s report and claimed that the XEN misguided and misreported to him about the water position in the river although sufficient water was available downstream Kotri barrage.

He said that 10,000 cusecs of water was available till Oct 11 and even on Oct 20 sufficient water was available for water supply. Wasa staff had shifted machinery installed along the river after flood season hence the MD should issue fresh directives to his staff in this regard and get an explanation from the XEN about it, he said.

He asked the MD to direct the staff to clear silt from the Wasa’s intake site from where water was pumped and shift pumping machines to more suitable locations so that water could be supplied to people without interruption.

The Wasa spokesman had insisted on Thursday that Hyderabad Development Authority director general Zahid Hussain Shar had visited the site of water pumping on Oct 17 along with Wasa MD Anjum Saeed and other officers.

He said the DG visited the intake site for pumping of water in unit-4 Latifabad and expressed concern over unavailability of water at this location.

He requested irrigation authorities on the one hand to release water and on the other asked Wasa to shift machines from present location to a new location at distance of 700ft to 800ft where water was available.

He claimed that Wasa was struggling to ensure supplying drinking water to people uninterruptedly and hence remained in touch with irrigation department in this regard.

The MD in his letter had informed the CE in advance about possible reaction of people on account of water shortage but he (CE) had not understood the intention of this letter, he said.

He said that Wasa had been facing financial problems for a long time and had been endeavouring to upgrade its system while making correspondence with authorities.

Published in Dawn, October 22th, 2023