KARACHI: Roads ruined; massive power cuts in Defence
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Dec 4: Life has again become hugely disrupted in the DHA Phase-I, which has been dug up for around three years to be reshaped as the authority’s model phase but ordeal of its residents shows it becomes the worst affected area of the authority whenever it rains.
“It has very difficult to live here because you become inaccessible if you live in Defence Phase-I,” Jawed Khan, a resident of Street No. 8 complained. He said when it rained no motorist could enter or go out of the locality where more than 1,000 houses were located, most of them owned by influential people though.
He said the area had become a lake where boats were better mode of transport but what made it difficult further was prolonged power breakdown.
“The power supply to our locality was disrupted around 1pm on Saturday and was restored after 24 hours on Monday afternoon, but it was out again at 5pm and had not been restored till yet, the late night,” Jawed Khan said.
Similar complaints were received from other parts of this oldest phase of the upscale DHA. Residents of 5th Street said power supply was suspended early in the morning on Monday and could not be restored till late evening.
The residents of DHA Phase-I said what made their life more miserable was the endless ‘development work’ launched by the DHA some three years ago to convert this locality as the model phase but the hierarchy had given no deadline to complete the job.
The residents said almost entire phase had been dug up and little of it was repaired, constructed or re-carpeted, which made their life miserable even when it not rained.
“Most of this Phase is filled with dust, which makes every home dusty due to vehicular movement and creates a lot of diseases,” Qaiser Saleem, a resident, said.
He said since the development work started in the area one contractor had backed out and was replaced by another, but the situation was not yet clear when the work would complete.
The residents have lately submitted their written complaint to the DHA and Clifton Cantonment Board authorities in which they complained of their problems saying it does not look like a part of DHA and was getting worse with each passing day.
“Has the DHA management in the past several years ever toured Phase-I? No. We demand that one or two senior officials should live here for a few days to gauge the situation on their own,” Saleem Zia, a resident and a politician belonged to PML-N, said.
He said the situation vis-à-vis sanitation and sewerage system was also deplorable and could not be attended by the relevant authorities despite repeated complaints.
He said it was too difficult to attend a funeral on Monday because stagnant rainwater did not allow the procession easy way to reach to the graveyard.
A spokesman of the DHA said the development work in the area had delayed but now they were doing it rapidly and would complete it before the next monsoons.
DHA spokesman, Col Rafat Naqvi said new water and sewerage lines were being laid in the area and 50 per cent of the re-carpeting of the whole Phase-I had been completed. “We are also laying an efficient drainage system and the whole work would be completed before the next monsoon,” Mr Naqvi said.
Relating to Monday’s rains, he said suction pumps had been deployed in all the affected areas while cesspools and mobile hydrants were there to drain the stagnant rainwater immediately. He said sanitary workers were also deployed and the top officials of the DHA and the Clifton Cantonment Board were monitoring the whole operation. “We have also established six complaint centres for receiving residents’ complaints,” he said.
