KARACHI, Aug 3: The city’s civic infrastructure remained dislocated for the fifth consecutive day, Thursday, causing immense hardship to people as the civic agencies failed to remove the stagnant rainwater and sewage in many parts of the metropolis.
While portions of many major arteries, including Sharea Faisal, I. I. Chundrigar Road, M. A. Jinnah Road, Korangi Road, Shaheed-i-Millat Expressway, Karimabad Road and Jehangir Road, were still inundated, there were puddles of muddy water and sewage in almost every locality of the city.
In many areas, people had placed bricks and stones on submerged streets and lanes to avoid a dip into the filth and mud. Indeed, it was not an easy task for women, children and elderly people to toddle over the makeshift crossings.
Up to knee-deep stagnant water in Block 8 of Clifton made the residents’ life miserable as the rainwater, mixed with sewage, had entered their houses.
“We have reported the nuisance caused by the stagnant water to the Clifton Cantonment Board (CCB) officials, but to no avail,” said Safdar Rajkotwala, who has been living in the vicinity for the past 27 years.
“The city had received much more rains in the past years, but the situation never turned that horrible as it is now with so light rains,” he remarked. I called CCB engineers, Mr Idrees and Mr Murtaza Ali, several times, and each time they told me they were just sending in the suction pumps to the vicinity for draining out the stagnant water,” he deplored.
Mrs Almas, another resident of the locality which houses over 400 bungalows, said the filthy water had entered in the underground water tanks of her and many others’ houses. “We are in a pathetic condition and no one seems to be there to come to our rescue,” she lamented.
The situation in Bath Island’s Gulshan-i-Faisal turned grave to the extent that the residents of as many as 18 flats on plot no. D-9 moved to safer places. “There is knee-deep water standing in the locality for the past four days and instead of receding, it seems to be increasing,” a resident said.
Dr Iqbal Sehar, another resident of Bath Island, told Dawn that the entire locality was stinking with the knee-deep rainwater mixed with sewage. “Due to such unhygienic conditions I intend to move to my hometown, Moro, on Friday morning,” he said.
The doctor said his next door neighbours, an elderly couple Mr and Mrs Fakhruddin Tapal, were trapped in their house since the rains lashed the city. “I have been supplying them with the provisions and milk through our gallery as they just can’t come out of their house due to the stagnant water,” he added.
A resident of Defence View, Iqbal Ahmed, said the streets and lanes in the area had been submerged for the past four days.
“I contacted town nazim and other officials of the city government on phone, sent them many e-mails regarding the mess in our area, but they have paid no heed so far,” he added.
Mr Ahmed said the Defence View road was littered with garbage taken out by the sanitary staff from the rainwater drain. “The entire vicinity is stinking, but where are our city administrators,” he questioned.
The pedestrians faced a great deal of hardship as the passing vehicles splattered their cloths with stagnant filthy water. Hurling of expletives on the motorists was a common scene in parts of the city. “I was on way to the mosque to offer Asr prayers when a truck of a civic agency splashed me with filth,” an elderly man said in Moeenabad, Malir.
Farhat Kamal, a resident of Malir City, said stagnant rainwater could be seen in every part of the vicinity. “This is because the city government and town administrations had failed to clean the stormwater drains,” he remarked.
The situation in the low-lying areas, such as Lyari, Chakiwara, Ranchhor Line, Kharadar, Mithadar and Lines Area, remained critical with stagnant water making the life of the resident miserable.
Severe traffic jams also continued to take place at various major thoroughfares of the city owing to the accumulation of rainwater. Traffic moved at a snail’s pace on Sharea Faisal, I. I. Chundrigar Road, Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road, Shahrah-i-Liaquat, M. R. Kiyani Road, Mohammad Bin Qasim Road, Korangi Road, Shaheed-i-Millat Expressway, Karimabad, Jehangir Road, Lasbella, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Rashid Minhas Road, Sohrab Goth and North Karachi.Meanwhile, the city on Thursday received light rains. The Met office said that parts of the district West received a maximum of 10mm rain, followed by Karachi Airport 4.4mm. The other parts received 2 to 2.4mm rain.
The minimum and maximum temperatures recorded were 25.5 and 29 degrees centigrade respectively. The temperature would range between 29 and 31 degrees centigrade on Friday, it added.
