KARACHI, July 8: Most of the roads and streets in the city which were flooded by rains on Monday were cleared of water by the staff of the towns administrations concerned.
However, residents of low-lying and congested localities, including City Railway Colony, Lines Area, Lyari, Azam Basti, Mehmoodabad, Manzoor Colony, continued to suffer from the impact of Monday’s rains as most of their narrow streets remained filled with sludge, causing slippery conditions and posing a health hazard owing to stinking environment.
Though sanitary workers in most of the towns managed to clear the stagnant rainwater on main thoroughfares by diverting it to storm-water drains, complaints were also received that town officials removed manhole covers and released water into sewage chambers.
At a number of places, sanitary workers were seen removing manholes covers or making a hole into the concrete manhole covers/collars, despite the fact that sewerage manholes are meant for domestic sewage only.
A visit to M R Keyani Road, PECHS Block 2 and main University Road would show that a number of sewerage manholes covers which were removed by health workers for draining out rainwater from the roads had been left open, posing a danger to the lives of pedestrians and motorcyclists.
However, officials of the city government’s water and sanitation department said that the release of rainwater into sewerage manholes might result into choking of the entire sewerage system.
With the flushing of rainwater into the sewerage manholes, a good quantity of solid waste, including all sorts of rubbish and polythene bags, also enters the sewerage lines, they explained.
They further said that sewerage lines were already carrying load beyond their capacity, and might start overflowing, creating a filthy environment which might result in the spread of diseases.
Sources in the W&S department claimed that some health workers on Tuesday connected the choked nullah with the sewerage lines on main University Road, near Federal Urdu University of Science and Technology.
Meanwhile, residents of Lyari complained that a filthy environment continued to prevail on various roads of their locality owing to presence of sludge.
The worst affected roads, they added, include Karabai Karimji Road, Fida Hussain Sheikha Road, Mir Mohammad Baloch Road, D D Chaudhry Road, Yousuf Haroon Road, Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai Road, Ahmed Shah Bukhari Road.
Some other major roads where rainwater remained accumulated till Tuesday evening included different portions of Sharah-i- Quaideen, University Road, M. A. Jinnah Road and different streets of PECHS Block 2, Burnes Road.