Cleanliness drive in Korangi marred by sewage mess

KARACHI: The lack of coordination between Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) officials and the District Municipal Corporation (DMC) Korangi has badly affected the ongoing cleanliness campaign in the district.

A senior official of the DMC Korangi told this correspondent on Monday that Administrator Korangi Qurat-ul-Ain Memon reprimanded the KWSB officials of the all three zones – Korangi, Landhi and Shah Faisal Town – over their failure to address sewerage complaints.

He said that poor sanitation conditions due to overflowing sewerage lines, particularly in the Korangi zone, had spoiled the entire effort to improve cleanliness conditions.

The official made these comments when his attention was drawn towards the collapsed sewerage system in various parts of Korangi, especially its 100 Quarters’ locality, where several roads and streets have become impassable due to choked sewerage lines in Sectors 50-B and 50-C. The situation has also worsened due to the mixing of sewage into drinking water through leaked supply lines.

The leaking water supply lines coming out of the Pumping Station situated at Korangi 5-1/2 have badly damaged over a kilometre of dual road, affecting the movement of vehicles and commercial activities along the road. There is a similar situation on the main road behind Chakra Goth in Korangi No. 1 where both lanes of the road have been damaged due to leaking water supply and sewerage lines.

An elderly man, Ishtiaq, in 100-Quarters, informed that they had been running from pillar to post for the past many months to get the sewerage problem of their area addressed, but to no avail. He said that people were falling sick due to poor sanitation conditions.

When asked whether any elected representative or any senior official from the DMC or the KWSB visited 100-Quarters in the recent past to see himself the mess, he lamented that let alone these ‘big wigs’ sweepers do not bother to come here, as there is no check on them.

Another resident stated that they had made numerous complaints at the local KWSB office and even to the Deputy Commissioner’s office, but no action had been taken.

A resident, Shakeel, stated that the overall poor sanitation condition was in the knowledge of the local KWSB officer Roshan Din, but he did not pay any heed to the repeated complaints.