HYDERABAD: Shortage of water leads to protest
HYDERABAD, June 4: Residents of union councils 5 and 6 held a demonstration outside the local press club on Friday in the lead of UC councillors Ghaffar Anjum and Iqbal Rajput to protest against water shortage in their areas.
Raising slogans against the Water and Sanitation Agency, the protesters broke pitchers on the roads they passed through. Complaining that the WASA authorities had failed to take notice of their plight despite repeated protests, they said that the authorities were not even checking the water line to see whether it needed to be repaired or replaced.
They said that even if the agency did supply water, it was always in the middle of the night, which added to their problems. The protesters said that it had been over four months since they were facing the water shortage while maintaining that they had sent applications to the city taluka nazim but to no avail.
WATER ISSUE: Residents of Qasimabad held a demonstration on the Hyderabad by-pass on Friday, on the call of the Qasimabad Action Committee, to protest against delay in action against those responsible for supply of contaminated water to Hyderabad.
Led by taluka naib nazim Rafi Abbasi and others, the protesters blocked a section of the by-pass, suspending traffic flow for an hour. They claimed that so far, no concrete action was taken by the government against the officials responsible for the crisis, who had only been transferred.
The protesters alleged that the irrigation department was the main culprit but no action was taken against it. As a precaution against any untoward incident, police were deployed at the protest site.
SUNNI TEHRIK: Activists of the Sunni Tehrik observed a token hunger strike outside the local press club on Thursday to protest against alleged corruption in the Auqaf department. They were led by Khalid Qadri, Khalid Hassan Atari, Shakoor Bhatti, Fahimuddin Shaikh and others.
Talking to journalists, they alleged that funds were being embezzled in the department, zakat was being distributed among political workers while department officers were using the same to maintain a luxurious life. Sanitary condition in shrines as well as mosques was deplorable, the protesters added.
MISHAPS: A person was killed while two others were injured in separate road accidents in different parts of the district on Friday. An unidentified motorcyclist was killed on the spot when some vehicle ran over him at the Wadhu Wah.
The body was removed to the Civil Hospital for autopsy. Meanwhile, 20 participants of a marriage party, including the bridegroom, suffered injuries when a Tando Allahyar-bound bus collided with a trailer in Bhittai Nagar. Eight of the injured were shifted to the Civil Hospital, keeping in view the severity of their injuries.
CONDOLENCE: Staff of the Press Information Department held a condolence meeting in their office and offered Fateha for the younger brother of Samina Waqar, director of the National Highway Department, Islamabad.