HYDERABAD, April 19: A large number of people from different localities of union council-1 of Latifabad taluka held a demonstration and staged a sit-in at Giddu Chowk here on Monday in protest against supply of contaminated water to their areas. As a result, vehicular traffic on the road remained suspended for quite some time.

UC Nazim Sher Mohammad Pirzada, Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Mallah Tanzeem chief Arib Mallah and some leaders of social welfare organizations led the protest. Speaking on the occasion, they said that as no water was being released into the Indus River downstream Kotri barrage and sewerage was being discharged into the river, Hussainabad and some areas of Latifabad were being supplied contaminated water.

They said that buffaloes had further aggravated the situation as they entered the ponds on the banks of the Indus and polluted water. They said that people were suffering from various diseases due to consumption of contaminated water.

They said that their complaints in this regard had fallen on deaf ears. The UC Nazim and other leaders demanded that water should be released downstream Kotri, drain water of Qasimabad should not be discharged into the river and entry of buffaloes at the river banks should be banned.

Later, the City SP and Latifabad DSP reached the spot and convinced the protesters to end their protest.

WASA: The recovery magistrate, Water and Sanitation Agency, here on Monday disconnected 27 water supply connections and issued notices of disconnection to 15 defaulters, said a Wasa handout.

Afzal Ahmed also confiscated seven motors which had been illegally installed on water supply lines. Accompanied by some Wasa officials, he paid surprise visits to different areas of the City, Qasimabad and Latifabad talukas in connection with recovery campaign.

The Wasa authorities have advised the defaulters to immediately pay their dues to avoid legal action.

POWER SHUTDOWNS: Frequent power shutdowns of hours together in sweltering heat have made the lives of the people miserable. Newspaper offices on Monday were flooded with complaints about power shutdown in almost all the localities of Hyderabad.

In the Gari Khata area, power supply was suspended at 8am and it had not been restored till 6.30pm at the time of filing of this report. As water supply is linked with power supply, it was also suspended for over 10 hour at a stretch.

A WASA spokesman said that due to power shutdown, water supply remained suspended from Thandi Sarak pumping station and others as a result water could not be supplied to the consumers of three talukas. He said that power supply to Thandi Sarak pumping station was restored at 3pm but it would take 18 to 20 hours to restore water supply with full pressure.

When contacted by telephone, the Hesco officials could not say with certainty whether power supply was disconnected by construction department or operation wing of the company.