Karachi: Social groups and political parties rallied on Friday as the water supply situation in Karachi intensified, prompting street agitation reportedly because of electricity shutdowns in several areas that led to failure of water boosting from the pumps.

The traffic jams cramped the key main roads of the city as the people took to the streets to protest continual water shortage in Site Area, Orangi Town and Gulshane Iqbal, in the eastern and western parts of the city.

Residents staged sit-ins in the affected areas causing traffic blockades, and street criminals took advantage of the traffic stagnation and looted the stranded commuters.

The protests began on Thursday when the local residents blocked the Habib Bank Chowrangi. The protest then expanded to other areas of the city.

In some areas of the city, agitated protesters burnt tyres on the roads and pelted passing vehicles with stones.

Jamaat-e Islami, a religious party, also held a rally outside the Karachi Press Club to join the protest against the non-availability of water, especially in the western district of the city.

Meanwhile, the Karachi Water and Seweage Board (KWSB) in a statement said that it continued the ongoing operation against the illegal hydrants with the assistance of paramilitary Rangers. It said that during the operation that continued until today (Friday) many hydrants were erased through the mechanical excavators.

The KWSB had launched an operation against the water theft in its system through illegal hydrants and connection, which have mushroomed in the city for many years.

Qutubuddin Shaikh, the managing director of the KWSB, in the statement vowed that all the illegal hydrants and connections would be cut off in the western parts of the city as well in Nazimabad areas.

Meanwhile, the KWSB has refused to pay the electricity dues of 28 billion Pakistani rupees (Dh1 billion) to the K-Electric, the power distributing company in Karachi. In response to the petition filed by the electric company in the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the water supplier has stated that the federal government would pay off the dues to the electric company.

The apex court has called the federal secretaries of finance, water and power as well as the attorney general on February 25 to submit their positions on whether the federal government could pay the dues of the organisation working under the provincial government to the court.