September 20, 2006	Wednesday	Sha'aban 26, 1427

KARACHI, Sept 19: Portions of roads submerged by sewage-mixed rainwater and riddled with potholes and trenches developed due to ruthless digging in the name of uplift work and the recent heavy downpours, are causing exhausting traffic jams at and around Jauhar Mor especially during the peak hours.

Both sides of the road leading to Jauhar Chowrangi remain clogged with deluge of vehicles and the problem, which has aggravated after the August 17 rains, persists as a daily routine for the last several months.

It takes a motorist more than half an hour to cross this intersection from any side. While traffic jams between Dalmia roundabout and Jauhar Mor are also being witnessed in the morning and evening hours, a similar situation develops quite frequently when vehicles coming from Nipa Chowrangi also get stuck at the Jauhar Mor traffic signal.

The agencies carrying out uplift work in the area have never bothered to fill up the trenches being dug up for laying or removing pipelines or cables. Most of these trenches have been filled up with rainwater or sewage, thus rendering the affected roads partially, and in some cases totally, impassable for the pedestrians and motorists.

Another reason for the dilapidated condition of the roads around Jauhar Mor is the on and off burst of sewerage lines and spillage from gutters and drains, pointing towards a defective and overloaded drainage system.

Although the area falls under the jurisdiction of Cantonment Board Faisal, the board is not ready to own the responsibility of improving the sewage system. “Ask the KWSB,” was the reply when a spokesman for the Faisal Cantonment Board was approached in this regard. “When the affected residents will lodge a complaint, we will look into the matter,” he argued. However, many of the local residents said that they had repeatedly lodged complaints with both the boards, but to no avail.

The growing population in the area warrants replacement of the old sewerage lines, but the two agencies seem to be at odds over the much-needed repair work. The ultimate sufferers are the area people whose miseries multiply with the passage of time but neither the officials of the cantonment board nor the water board seem concerned over their plight. While the KWSB argues that it was the responsibility of the cantonment board to look after the areas in its jurisdiction, whereas the cantonment board maintains that the sewerage system is the responsibility of the KWSB, which collects the relevant taxes directly from people.

Owing to the bickering over the question of responsibility, the entire civic system in almost every block of Gulistan-i-Jauhar has been in complete mess exposing people of this densely populated area to all kinds of threats and hazards.

The town nazim Zone-2, Wasay Jalil, was not available for comment. Najam Alam, chief engineer, Zone-2, told Dawn that the main sewerage line in the area was undersized i.e. of 12-inch-dia, whereas the same should have been of double the size considering the load. “We are working on it and the pipeline will hopefully be replaced in two-three months,” he added.

“Although it is the responsibility of the cantonment board, the city government has decided to carry out the replacement work to mitigate the sufferings of the people because, being their representatives, we are answerable to them. People would not have suffered if the same approach would have been adopted by the cantonment board,” he remarked.

Mr Alam attributed the clogging of sewerage lines to the alleged mismanagement in the maintenance of the system and the faulty building plans approved by cantonment board. Besides, he said, disposing of plastic bags in sewerage lines had contributed to the system collapse.

However, repeated attempts to reach the executive officer of the Cantonment Board Faisal, Zeenat Ahmed, did not succeed as according to her personal assistant, she was busy in meetings.