KARACHI: The open storm-water drain in the middle of Khayaban-i-Jami in the commercial area of Phase-II Extension of Defence Housing Authority (DHA) was in the news recently when pictures of a little car, a grey Cuore, which had accidentally fallen into it, were shared widely on social media and many WhatsApp groups.

This is a broad storm-water drain that is open for over half a kilometre at the commercial area side. Besides being a source of mosquito and other vector-borne diseases in the locality, it receives all trash and used plastic bags.

Although it has a little single-brick barrier along its sides, the people of the area say that it is not of much use since it is quite usual for vehicles and pedestrians to fall right into the drain.

“We are quite used to it by now. We are also quite used to the stench coming from there,” a salesman at a corner bakery on the road told Dawn.

Every so often pedestrians, motorcycles and cars fall into the drain

The gentleman minding the counter at a supermarket near the bakery shrugged and said that it was a problem but he was not sure what to do about it.

A vegetable vendor said that he had witnessed several vehicles falling into the drain. “It is quite broad so it is more dangerous, especially for speeding vehicles. I have seen a motorcyclist falling into it along with his bike,” he added.

“There is another, narrower, drain also running on some other roads of this commercial area, which has been covered with cement slabs but this one is still open,” he added.

A female customer at one of the other bakeries towards the Khayaban-i-Ittehad end of Jami said that she lived in one of the flats above the shops. “Once we saw a woman almost going into it with her car. At least her car’s two front wheels were in while the vehicle was tipped. The poor lady had three young children in the car. We residents came out running towards her to rescue them and get the family out, which we succeeded in doing thankfully,” she narrated with a shudder.

When asked if such incidents were happening due to dim lighting in the area, the customer shook her head. “This is a commercial area. It is quite bright here in the evenings. But the cars are falling in not in the dark but in broad daylight,” she said.

The shopkeeper at a hardware and ceramics shop, when asked about the drain, shrugged and said that he saw at least two cars falling into the drain every year. “Two cars fall every year and the rest are bonus cars for this trap. Now, since the first car falling incident happened so early this year, I’m waiting for the second such incident now. Pedestrians also fall in regularly,” he smiled shaking his head in hopelessness.

“By the way,” the shopkeeper added. “Up ahead on the same road, this nullah is covered.”

Asked if it was because there was a residential area, the man shook his head and said. “No, it is because the Sunset Club of DHA is there along with DHA marriage lawns. They have covered the nullah to provide parking space there along with controlling the stench and mosquito population on that side,” he added.

A spokesperson for the Cantonment Board Clifton said that he was not aware of the recent car falling inside this drain incident.

He also added that to prevent this from happening they had given a small brick boundary alongside the drain.

Published in Dawn, March 3rd, 2022