KARACHI: Lack of basic amenities for pilgrims at Manghopir
By Bhagwandas
KARACHI, May 29: Visitors to a suburban centre of the Manghopir village have to suffer many hardships as few facilities have been provided for them by the civic agency. People visit the village to pay respects to the saint, Manghopir, or bathe in the sulphur springs (popularly known as garam chashma – hot springs) and visit a pool near the mazar of the saint where a large number of crocodiles are kept.
A visit to the Manghopir, located some 25 kilometres from the city centre – Saddar – in the north on Sunday revealed that the roads leading to one of the oldest human settlements in the city were in a very poor condition and the area was engulfed with the dust being emitted by the large number of marble factories dotted along the road.
A cement factory located just around a kilometre away from Manghopir was also contributing towards air pollution by emitting its fine cement dust in the environment – the pollution from both of these sources must have taken its toll on the respiratory system of the residents.
One of the major attractions of the village is the garam chashma, which is visited by people having skin ailments. A dip in the sulphur-infested water is said to have healing effects on such people’s skin.
Despite the fact that a large number of people visit the chashma and the civic agency concerned – union council 8 of the Gadap Town – collects Rs7 per person as the entrance fee, very few facilities are available for them.
Water is extracted from the garam chashma through a motorized pump, in a hall where around 30 people can have a bath at a time. Only a few buckets are available and people have to wait for their turn to get the bucket.
Water from the spring is being collected in a small pool. Upon looking into the pool it becomes quite evident that it is not cleaned regularly, as layers of moss and algae have been deposited at the bottom and side walls, thus making it unhygienic.
Since there is only one hall for bathing so the men and women have to take turns to take a bath. There is a waiting room only for women and men have to roam around or sit at nearby eateries.
The door to the bathing hall is in a very bad shape and the curtain hanging behind the door has many holes in it. The situation becomes awkward when the women are taking bath in the hall. Replacement of both of these should not cost much.
Responding to Dawn’s queries Nabi Bakhsh, a caretaker at the garam chashma, said that the civic agency gave the contract for approximately Rs350,000 a year to collect the entrance from the people, so it should provide the facilities for the visitors also.
He said that the waiting hall for women and hall for bath had been constructed by the civic agency some time back.
Mr Bakhsh said that people had been demanding that at least 20 to 25 bathrooms with clean buckets etc be constructed so that people coming from far off places could have a bath in a decent manner. A waiting hall for men should also be constructed.
A visitor who had come after nearly a decade said that earlier the area used to be engulfed with the smell of sulphur and the taste of the spring water was quite salty.
Although the water is still as warm as earlier but the taste and smell has changed, he complained.
However, Mr Bakhsh did not agree with that visitor and insisted that the water qualities were the same and its proof was that it was still hot.
A female caretaker at the bath for over 35 years, Fatima Bibi, said that since women visited the chashma in larger numbers than men that was probably the reason for the construction of a waiting hall for women only.
She also said that the women visitors also complained that since entrance fee was being charged so there should be separate bathrooms.
