KARACHI, Jan 13: Several main thoroughfares and busy roads of the city’s former district East have developed deep potholes owing to the frequent movement of the water tankers which fetch water from Muslimabad hydrants.

There have been about 2,000 tankers being filled at 30 taps at two hydrants, both located in Muslimabad. The hydrants belong to the city government’s Water and Sanitation Department though their operation is managed by the Rangers.

The tankers not only play havoc with the roads on their way to different destinations, but also appeared responsible for numerous accidents due to rash driving on busy roads and narrow lanes, particularly in and around Muslimabad. Records show that a number of accidents involving these water tankers, have occurred on Dadabhoy Nauroji Road as well as at the Sharea Quaideen-Khalid Bin Waleed Road and Sharea Quaideen-Tariq Road intersections. Traffic on both the intersections remains heavy during day time and till late in the evening.

The roads which have already been damaged considerably and have become bumpy and uneven at various places include Dadabhoy Nauroji Road, a portion of New M. A. Jinnah Road, main Jehangir Road, Kashmir Road, Major Fareed Bukhari Road, Sindhi Muslim Housing Society’s main roundabout and parts of Sharea Quaideen.

A fleet of heavy tankers, including those having a capacity of 10,000 to 15,000 gallons of water, often keep on shuttling between the hydrants and the water-starved localities and leaving the roads slippery due to their leaking nozzles.

Insiders told Dawn that the number of tankers drawing water from Muslimabad has increased manifold during the last two years as the big tankers are no more barred from fetching water from these hydrants. Earlier, only the tankers having up to 1200-gallon capacity, were allowed to avail the filling facility at the hydrants.

Such a large number of tankers have also become a source of nuisance for the residents of Muslimabad and the nearby Catholic Colony. Whenever there is long queue of tankers at the hydrants’ filling points, the operators usually park their vehicles not only on the main Dadabhoy Nauroji Road but also in front of the bungalows in the two localities.

The residents have constantly been complaining that the drivers and conductors of these tankers, often riding atop the tankers and keep sitting there much of the parking time, not only talk loudly but also use abusive language against each other. Their attitude, they contend, was a clear breach of the residents’ privacy.

“Time and again we have tried to get the hydrants shifted to some other alternative places but all our efforts in this regard have gone in vain,” a perturbed residents of Muslimabad lamented.

SCHOOLCHILDREN: Another dangerous aspect of the tankers’ unabated movement is that schoolchildren are exposed to the high risk of being knocked down by these often recklessly driven vehicles. Muslimabad and its periphery have a number of schools and hundreds of children routinely have to move, in vans or on foot, between their school and home daily.