August 12, 2008	Tuesday	Sha'aban 9, 1429

KARACHI, Aug 11: Residents of Karachi Administrative Employees Housing Society (UC-5) in Jamshed Town have expressed apprehensions that the whole society will be flooded if emergency measures are not taken to clean the choaked drains and fill the dug-up roads.

“This happens in every monsoon as far as I can remember and despite numerous complaints this issue still haunts people of the area,” an irate resident told Dawn.

However, he said that after the general elections the pace of development work was slowed down and roads dug up for laying water pipelines were left abandoned. “Our area is victim of dirty politics as the UC nazim belongs to the opposition group,” the resident claimed.

During a visit to the UC-5, it was found that the main roads Lal Shahbaz Qalandar Road, Nizamuddin Aulia Road, Moinuddin Chishti Ajmeri Road were in shambles and several sewers were choaked.

Residents of the localities complained that pipelines in most areas were lying unattended for the last many years despite the fact that digging work had been completed long ago. They said monsoon rains would turn the situation horrible if remedial steps were not immediately taken.

Jamshed Town is one of the largest towns in Karachi. Comprising the city’s prestigious housing societies such as PECHS, KAECHS and SMCHS abutting low-income neighbourhoods like Mehmoodabad, Chanesar Goth, Azam Basti and Central Jacob Lines, it is a town of various contrasts. However, residents of the town suffer equally as far as civic issues are concerned.

Commercial area people complain of increasing encroachment and massive digging that leads to traffic jams on some major intersections on a daily basis.

Town officials had promised a better system of drainage and waste disposal when the new local body system was introduced in 2001, but the ground realities are entirely different, residents say.

The KWSB has not taken any step for the cleaning of garbage-filled drains, they say. “We have been contacting the town officials in this regard but they pay no heed,” a resident says, adding that sewage level has increased in a drain being used for garbage disposal due to which sewage overflows into the nearby houses.

When contacted, UC-5 Nazim Imran Baghpatti conceded the slow pace of work in the area. He blamed the non-cooperative attitude of the city government and paucity of funds responsible for the conditions. He stressed the need for taking urgent remedial steps to tackle the pre- and post-monsoon situation.