ISLAMABAD: Amid sizzling heat and the Ramadan month of fasting, residents of various parts of the national capital are experiencing an acute shortage of drinking water. Mushrooming of illegal water boring sites, wastage of water and illegal water connections have further worsened the water crisis in the federal capital.

Though water shortages have become a permanent headache for residents of Islamabad, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has been ignoring its backup water tanker service.

Residents of the capital have accused the authorities concerned of being indifferent to their problems and have paid no heed to their repeated requests.

“Imagine my despair when I opened the tap to wash myself for prayers after sehri last night and there was not a drop of water,” local Ali Anwar talking to a private news channel, said.

“The situation is awful. Can you imagine how badly this has affected our lives, especially during Ramadan?” another housewife Shama Javed said.

He also said, “We filed a complaint several times to CDA in this regard, but no fruitful action is yet to be taken.”

Another housewife Iftikhar said houses in her neighbourhood got water through the supply lines maybe once a week. “I have registered complaints about the water supply issue, but officials always say I have to wait,” she said.

An inquiry official at the F-6 office said they send tankers to different offices considering their demand. “In sector F-6, we get almost 100 water-related complaints every day. We try to manage and send tankers to those who register complaints,” he said.

The inquiry official at the G-7 office said they had only one tanker and around 30 to 50 complaints were being registered with the office daily,” he said.

An official of the Water Directorate of the CDA said ongoing load shedding, depletion of groundwater and equipment malfunction of deep tubewells are the main reasons behind the crisis.

He said on condition of anonymity that influential people had managed to get illegal connections and CDA was unable to take any action against them.

“We’re trying to solve the crisis,” he said, adding, “We are supplying water through the water trucks or if needed even rationing the supply”.

— APP