"Gabtoli Mazar residents have repeatedly complained to Wasa about this ongoing water crisis for the past two years, a problem that has not yet been looked into," said Asgar Ali Master.

"The dwellers of Boishakhi Sharak, Choitali Sharak and the entire Second Colony have been facing this water crisis and are forced to live abnormal lives. Wasa could help us by supplying water for at least two to three hours in the middle of the night," said a resident.

"It's been almost 10-12 days since I last had a bath. Even if we do get water in a wild fluke, the water is not clear and gives out a bad odour. We spend much in buying water from Wasa in tanks. Our complaints the latest in June, have fallen on deaf ears," an angry Khairuzzaman said.

Jahangir Alam, owner of a roadside saloon, said: "In earlier cases, the Army supplied us with water once a week. This practice stopped when their deployment was discontinued."

"The Imam of the local mosque asked all devotees to complete ablution (Wazu) elsewhere, because of the lack of water. People coming in to pray are seen carrying bottles of water to perform ablutions," Alam added.

"We can live without electricity but certainly not without water. So many things depend on it cooking, washing and most importantly drinking. In the past few months, I have lost tenants who moved to other places because of this crisis," said Alam continued.

"Boishakhi Sharak has lost all its residents because of the disruption in water supplies and it seems that we have now been left to dry on the streets," he said.

Swapan, personal assistant to AFM Abdul Aziz, Officer incharge of Mirpur Zone 4, said that they had not heard of any such complaints.

"If complaints were made to us in writing, we would have certainly looked into the matter," he said.

A similar situation prevails in Malibagh's Khilgaon Taltola area. Residents from a local hotel complained that Reazbagh, Moulobirtek and Notunbagh are the worst affected suburbs.

There is absolutely no water during the day.

"We see the taps dripping only after midnight Then again, the suffering prolongs as residents stay up till 5:00 am to have a fill. Those who do not have water pumps, suffer the most and those in tin sheds do not have reservoirs to support the supply and depend greatly on the supply from street taps," said Kamal Miah.

"The main pump of Taltola area has been out-of-order for the past year. But even when it was in proper working order, we still did not get any water as the supply was diverted to other areas and sold at high prices. As we complained to the local authorities, they asked us to get permission from the higher echelons to get a proper supply of water," said Hamdu Kabir, a resident of the Malibagh area.

Abdul Latif, Assistant Pump Operator (APO), denied all the allegations. "The water level has gone down drastically. The layers below standard level are causes of inadequate water supply. It would take another two months to get the pump in working order," he said.

Denying the allegations of the local residents, Wasa's zone 6 Executive Engineer, Abdul Mujib said: "The area needs more tube-wells to be set up. All our pipelines are networked and it is quite impossible to divert supplies to other areas."

He asked the residents to make an official written complaint including the correct holding numbers.