KARACHI, Jan 14: After 12 years of apathy and negligence, one of the few water troughs left in the city outside the Dow University of Health Sciences has got a facelift.

It was 1995 when some students of then Dow Medical College came forward and restored the glory of that place outside their college that had almost vanished. Since then everyone forgot it. First, it went devoid of water, for which it was meant for and no one noticed when it virtually became a garbage dump.

The trough had been constructed by Shrimati Aplibai in memory of her late husband Diwan Dayaram Chellaram Mirchandani, a former city surveyor.

Accounts available show that Diwan Dayaram was born around year 1872-1873. He was a Government City Surveyor and expired on September 23, 1924 at the age of 52.

Mr Mirchandani lived in the Faiz Husseini Building, opposite the Government High School in the same vicinity.

Shrimati Aplibai built the trough for public convenience in 1927. Some time later, Diwan's loving wife also passed away. They had no children.

The construction of a trough, a hospital or school was part of the common practice those days of the then Karachiites in memory of their loved ones. In fact, such a tradition has also become distinct like such places and institutions.

Saddar Town nazim Mohammad Dilawar told Dawn the facelift of the trough carried out by his administration was part of the ‘Hamara Karachi’ celebrations.

“This is part of reviving our cultural heritage and we have constructed a boundary wall around the trough to avoid any reemergence of garbage dump in the future,” said Mr Dilawar.