KARACHI, Aug 1: Chairman of the Karachi Port Trust Vice-Admiral Ahmed Hayat on Tuesday blamed the city government for the flooding of the KPT underpass at Clifton, alleging that due to the choking of drainage nullahs in the area, rainwater made its way into the underpass.

Talking to newsmen at the site, he spelled out the remedial measures to be taken, and claimed that the in-built system of underpass for the removal of accumulated water was functioning properly. However, he added, owing to the inflow from adjoining roads, the underpass was flooded.

“The underpass flooded due to inefficiency of the CDGK as rainwater drainage system of the adjoining roads was choked. They have completely failed in looking after city’s infrastructure and providing relief to masses,” he alleged, saying the underpass was perfectly built and there was no problem in its design.

Referring to the accumulated rainwater on the roads near Teen Talwar, he said all the water which should have been flown into the rainwater drains had been diverted towards the underpass which caused immense pressure on the project’s in-built pumps for removal of extra water.

“We have employed five fire-tenders and three suction pumps to flush out the accumulated water while our teams are also trying to remove water from roads in order to prevent further inflow of rainwater,” he said, adding that the removed rainwater was being drained into the Khayam Canal.

He pointed out that the CDGK was using wipers and buckets for the removal of water from roads and underpasses in the city while the only KPT was only organisation that had employed heavy machinery and equipment to carry out the same work at the Clifton underpass.

“We can also provide our machinery, equipment and experts to the CDGK to enable it to maintain the city’s infrastructure and provide relief to citizens,” he said.

In reply to a question, he expressed the hope that by Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, the Clifton underpass would be cleared of water and the vicinity would be reopened to vehicular traffic.—PPI