People wait in a queue to collect water from a pump at Tejkunipara in the capital as water supply in the area by the Dhaka Water Supply Authority fell drastically. — Sourav Lasker

Residents of several neighbourhoods of the city complained about acute water crisis they were facing, but the chief of Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority, the lone water utility of the metropolis dismissed it as a problem of a few pockets of it.
WASA is continuously working, said its managing director managing director Taqsem A Khan, to solve the problem.
Residents of several metropolitan areas like– Dhanmondi, Tejkunipara, Mirpur,  Khilgaon, Malibagh, Goran, Bashabo, Madartek, Tikatuli, Sutrapur, Gendaria, Kashaituli, Lalbagh, Bangshal, said that they were facing shortage of water supplied by WASA, with summer 16 days away.
Residents of Tejkunipara held a demonstration on Monday in protest against the acute water shortage they are facing for more than a year.
They said that they felt utter disappointment as Asaduzzaman Khan, the Member of Parliament from the constituency did nothing for them.
Tejkunipara resident, shopkeeper Anwar Hossain told New Age that after facing water crisis for a week some local people went to the Tejkunipara Pump Station on March 24.
‘It’s a common experience in the large area which gets water supply from the lone water pump,’ he said.
Rezaul, Zainal and Khorshed of the neighbourhood said that they faced acute water crisis every year.
A local WASA personnel told New Age that on March 23 the pump’s motor went out of order and it was set at right on the following day.
He said that it created the problem for which the angry residents of the neighbourhood came to the pump station and broke its gate.
He said that now the problem was over as the pump station was working round the clock.
He said a WASA tanker supplied water among Tejkunipapra residents on Wednesday.
Asaduzzaman Khan admitted that the area had been facing water crisis.
He said that on Monday local residents took out a procession and attacked the pump station as they felt helpless due to water crisis.
Asaduzzaman hoped that a second water pump, he was trying to set up at Tejkunipara in two months, would solve the problem.
There was no water at Mirpur Shewrapara for 12 days at a stretch, about 20 days back, said Habib, a resident.
‘Many of my neighbours sent their family members to their village homes then,’ he said.
He said that the residents of the neighbourhood started to face the crisis again from Saturday.
Mohammad Chunnu, a resident of Dhanmondi, Road No 8 A (New told New Age that people of the area were facing water crisis since the beginning of March.
‘Today I complained to WASA modes zone 3’s office over phone while an official said they would take action but could not say when,’ he added.
Residents of Tikatuli, Rampur, Goran, Khigaon, Panthapath and Dhanmondi complained about stinking water supplied by WASA.
A WASA rejoinder said on Tuesday that it was due to personal disputes and political reasons that some of the residents went to the Tejkunipara Pump Station and misbehaved with the pump operator.
It also said there was no mismanagement in WASA in supplying water to the area.
WASA, however, admitted that its pump at Tejkunipara had gone out of order due to technical problems. 
The WASA chief said on Wednesday though at now there was no major problem at Tejkunipara area, water was being supplied to the neighbourhood pocket by pocket.
Responding to complaints from other areas, he said that two or three per cent of the city’s 605 water pumps had to be switched off each day due for maintenance which causes problems in some pockets of the metropolis.
‘Switching a pump off affects about 10,000 people,’ he said.
He said load shedding also created water crisis in certain pockets of the city.
‘We are successfully operating all our water pumps using 433 permanent and 60 mobile generators,’ he added.
The WASA chief said due to poor condition of roads waste get into the water supplied by WASA for which the consumers complain about stinki8ng water.
‘But this is also a problem of certain pockets of the city,’ he said.
Taqsem told a news conference on March 8, that WASA produces about 208 crore litres of water a day against the demand of 215 to 225 crore litres.
WASA has the capacity to produce 210 to 215 crore litres of water a day, he said.