HYDERABAD, Oct 2: A heavy rain (37.55 mm) lashed the city and its surrounding areas on Saturday, exposing the fragile power distribution system of Hesco and sewerage and drinking water supply network of Wasa.

The rain began at 8am and continued till 12 noon with full swing. Most parts of upper and lower Sindh suffered power breakdowns.

As the rain began, power supply to different areas in Hyderabad, Latifabad and Qasimabad talukas was suspended which could not be restored till the filing of this report at 6pm.

A visit to various localities of the city by this correspondent revealed that rainwater had submerged low-lying areas, and even some posh localities, and at certain places the water had mixed with sewage due to broken pipelines of sewerage. At several places, people, including women and children, had to wade through knee-deep water.

The situation was worse in areas of the New Cloth Market, Pakistan Chowk, Mohammad Ali Johar, Tulsidas Road, Effendi Town, Faqir Ka Pir Chowk, Hyder Chowk, Qazi Abdul Qayyum Road and the Makki Shah Road. A similar situation was witnessed in parts of Latifabad, unit nos. 2, 10, 11, 9, 8, 5 and 7.

Shops in the New Cloth Market remained closed the whole day. Vendors had disappeared and cabin shops in the Azeemusshan Cloth Market were also closed. So was the case with the Gul Centre and the District Council Shopping Centre.

Reports said sewage water disposal pumping stations of the Effendi town and Makki Shah pumping stations did not function due to power disruption. There was no backup power supply system whereas generators were out of order.

The Makki Shah Road that continued to be neglected by departments concerned remained closed because rainwater remained stagnant there. There was also no traffic on the Qazi Abdul Qayyum Road.

Driving for motorbike riders remained risky on under-construction roads, particularly the Mohammad Ali Johar Road connecting the Market area with Sarfaraz Incline.

City Taluka Nazim Moinuddin Shaikh said people had borne monetary losses in the New Cloth Market area due to apathy of Wasa and the HDA.

He maintained that Wasa had not repaired its generators though such a situation had been witnessed in the last monsoon and demands had been repeatedly made for putting its disposal system in order. He said only Rs400,000 was required for improving sewerage.

Hesco chief Syed Adeebul Hassan Rizvi claimed that by 3pm only one feeder of the NTPS grid station was not working whereas the rest of the city received power supply.

He confirmed that areas of Larkana, Sukkur, Dadu, Mirpurkhas, Shahdadpur, Tando Adam and Hyderabad had been hit by electricity breakdown because the existing power supply system could not withstand heavy rains.

He said power supply to a filter plant and disposal pumping stations had been restored and if they were not working, it might be due to some system problem of Wasa.

Contrary to the Hesco chief's claim, power supply to major part of the city remained suspended till evening. Main bazaars in Tilak Incline, Market Tower, Timber Market, cantonment, Gari Khata and other localities remained without electricity.

Since there had been no electricity supply to the filter plant and other water works of Wasa, the water supply was also badly affected.

Wasa managing director Shaukat Hayat Bhutto said water works and disposal pumping stations remained without power for more than six hours.

EMERGENCY: Director-General of the Hyderabad Development Authority Tahir Ahmed here on Saturday declared emergency in the department due to rains and cancelled leaves of the employees.