• Academic, administrative activities disrupted
• Several faculty buildings, roads remain inundated
• Teachers residing on campus say water spoiled their household items

KARACHI: Several roads, faculty buildings and houses on Karachi University (KU) campus remained inundated for the second consecutive day on Wednesday following a major leak in a pipeline, causing disruption in academic and administrative activities.

Talking to Dawn, teachers residing on the campus shared that they had never such devastation before and that many of their colleagues had suffered huge losses on account of inundation that damaged furniture and electricity appliances in their houses and even contaminated underground tanks.

“Water is still standing in our homes. Many of us have rented suction pumps today and are taking out water on a self-help basis,” a teacher said, regretting that there was no immediate response from the administration.

Sources said the situation was dire yesterday when electricity supplies were suspended soon after inundation. Darkness and flooded homes forced many to move either to their relatives living in other cities or KU’s staff guest house.

“While suspending electricity supplies was a preventive step, people were too scared to stay at home. One of our colleagues showed pictures of small snakes that he spotted at his place,” said another teacher.

Sources said the university’s transport services were suspended on Wednesday as water leaking from the main located at Sufi’s hotel had made its way into the bus depot after flooding dozens of residences and academic facilities including a science laboratory, departments of physics, chemistry, applied chemistry, applied physics, biochemistry, Institute of Halophyte, botany, pharmacy, mathematics, petroleum and mass communication.

Sources also said that the situation was aggravated by the fact that the city’s prime public sector university had no proper drainage and sewerage system. The network of storm water drains had been blocked either by construction or solid waste over the years.

“One case in point is the chemistry department where the water also entered its basement, damaging the store where research facilities were kept. The department has become very vulnerable to flooding after the construction of a new Prof Farooqi block, which has completely blocked drainage,” a teacher complained.

Highlighting employees’ woes, Dr Mohsin Ali heading the Karachi University Teachers’ Society condemned the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC) for its failure in taking prompt notice of the leakage that caused extensive damage to KU facilities, including labs, which caused a loss of millions of rupees.

“The delayed action is evident by the fact that water started leaking from one end of the university, i.e, the Sheikh Zayed institute and reached the campus’ other end at the Kaneez Fatima gate without any obstruction,” he said.

On behalf of KU staffers, he demanded immediate action to rectify the situation and stop further damage. “We also demand full compensation for the damage caused to the university property, infrastructure and staff’s residences,” he added.

Work underway to drain out water: KU official

Responding to concerns, KU’s Chief Engineer M. Sohail Siddiqui said the staff immediately moved into action as soon as the main dried and that the total assessment of damages would take time.

“This happened in the morning today. Before that, there was no use in utilizing resources for draining out water since there was continued water flow,” he explained, adding that the university administration was in contact with KWSC that had started repairs.

According to him, work is in progress to drain out water from the affected houses, around 70 to 80 in numbers.

“We are utilising dewatering pumps as well as KWSB’s efficient water extraction equipment for this purpose. Electricity has been restored to the affected area,” Mr Siddiqui said, hoping that the residential area would be cleared of water today.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2025