The area that comes under the purview of zone-5 of Dhaka Water and Sewerage Supply Authority (Wasa) is receiving a scant supply of water from the Purbachal and Shadhinata Sharani pumps.

Earlier the residents received water just for 30 minutes between 1 and 4 am, and water was available on a first come, first served basis. On some occasions there was no water at all, leaving residents awake all through the night.

The water shortage has been prevailing for last three months but the situation worsened last month. Residents now depend on neighbouring areas to for water for daily use.

The crisis is giving rise to water-borne diseases like diarrhoea and dermatitis in the area.

Narrating the plight, Md Habibul Aman, a resident of the area, said they got a meagre supply of water late night only three times last month.

"I had to do without a bath for more than two days. We survived by fetching drinking water from neighbours," he said.

"My only solution was to set up a tube well which cost me Tk 8,000 in addition to the Wasa bills that I regularly pay," said Fazlul Haq Sharif, another resident.

The residents of the area made verbal complaints to Wasa several times but received no results. Finally, they went to Wasa office and requested some action to be taken to solve the crisis, but the officer-in-charge was unable to respond positively.

When contacted, one of the high Wasa officials said that they were not aware of a water crisis in the area.

"We have established nine complaint offices, but there are no such complaints lodged at any one of them," he said.

He also said: "Wasa has the ability to flood the Saturkul area. Most Wasa vehicles used for delivering water during emergencies are idling. If we had received complaints we would have utilised the vehicles to supply water to the affected areas."

He contacted some officers concerned and found the existence of the water crisis in Satarkul Road and assured a solution to the problem immediately.

The residents of the area were furious when they were told that Wasa had not received any complaints.

"They are so disorganised that they are not aware of the crises that residents have to face without water," said Waziullah Ahmed, a resident himself.