KARACHI, May 21: Availability of basic facilities is still a most urgent problem in Lyari’s Shah Beg Lane Union Council area which has been a victim of neglect for years and is now considered to be the most backward area.

The residents have urged the government to direct the agencies concerned to take urgent measures for providing basic facilities.

The Union Council, comprising a population of 58,127, is without a proper drainage and water supply system. Its streets and roads are broken and the streets built during the Ayub regime were never repaired since then.

Filth and dirt can be seen in every street of the locality. Sweeping has not carried out in most of the areas as sanitary staff were not attending to their duties regularly.

For years, the area people have been pressing the authorities for their grievances, particularly water shortage problem, but so far their efforts could not produce any results.

The council area comprises Shah Beg Lane, Punjgoori Mohalla, old Kalri which also include Ali Mohammad Mohalla and Eidu Lane.

A resident of Ali Mohammad Mohallah said they had always been a victim of official negligence.

He said the water shortage problem had been persisting in the locality over a decade, but no serious step had been made to resolve it despite widespread public protests.