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Friday March 29, 2024

Roads submerged by rainwater with no drainage system in place

By Oonib Azam
July 30, 2019

Despite all the earlier claims of the Pakistan Peoples Party-led Sindh government that it had made ample preparations for the monsoon season, the rain played havoc with the city on Monday as with no proper drainage mechanism in place, rainwater accumulated on roads causing snarl-ups for several hours.

Citizens of Karachi woke up to a heavy rainfall on Monday, which turned out to be the bane of the teeming city of over 20 million as its roads and streets were immediately flooded and several neighbourhoods plunged into darkness as dozens of feeders of the power utility tripped.

The heavy and moderate downpour that continued late in the night triggered massive traffic jams on the roads inundated by rainwater and sewage. Gridlocks for several hours were seen at Sharea Faisal, Karsaz, Hassan Square, University Road, Defence, Clifton, North Nazimabad, Teen-Hatti Chowrangi, Qalandria Chowrangi, Orangi Town, Nazimabad, University Road, Gulshan-e-Iqbal 13-D, Shahrah-e-Pakistan, Five Star Chowrangi, KDA Chowrangi, Qayyumabad Chowrangi, Landhi, Korangi and other areas.

The Power House Chowrangi was completely submerged in rainwater and same was the case with Nipa, Jauhar Chowrangi, several areas of North Nazimabad, Nazimabad, Orangi Town, Board Office Chowrangi, Malir, Saudabad and Korangi.

As there are three flyovers being constructed on Sher Shah Suri Road in North Nazimabad, the entire road was clogged for several hours due to the accumulated rainwater. Water also accumulated inside pits dug up for the construction, posing great risk to the pedestrians and motorcyclists.

The rainwater also submerged graves in several cemeteries of the city, especially the Muhammad Shah Graveyard in North Karachi, the Sakhi Hassan Graveyard and the Esa Nagri graveyard.

Several cars were stuck in traffic near Governor House and Fawara Chowk in the Saddar area.

Sewerage system in the Malir and Saudabad area was also affected by the rain, due to which sewage accumulated at various spots, causing great inconvenience to the residents.

Various underpasses in the city, including the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) underpass at Teen Talwar and the underpasses in Nazimabad and Liaquatabad, were closed for the traffic due to the rain. In some underpasses of the city, suction pumps were installed to allow the movement of vehicles.

Nullahs not cleaned

Most of the storm water drains of the city, which the authorities repeatedly claimed to have cleaned, started to overflow with layers of garbage after some rain. Areas surrounding Gujjar Nullah, Mehmoodabad Nullah and Nehr-e-Khayyam were inundated with water as the drains could not serve their purpose due to being clogged.

The miserable state of the city on Monday also highlighted the imbalances of power of various tiers of governments and civic bodies, and the lack of coordination among them.

While the drains of Karachi come under the jurisdiction of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) that works under the mayor, the collection of solid waste is the responsibility of the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) which operates under the Sindh government. In such case, it is not clear who should be blamed if solid waste continues to be dumped into the drains.

On directives of the Supreme Court, the Sindh government released Rs500 million last year to the KMC for the cleaning of drains. The government was supposed to release another Rs70 million for the task this year, which according to Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar, it did not.

In various press conferences, Akhtar repeatedly pointed out that all the KMC’s efforts to clean the drains would go in vain, if the Sindh government did not ensure that all the solid waste was dumped into landfill sites and none of it went into the drains.

When it rained on Monday, the drains could not take any water after which roads and small streets of the city were inundated. The situation in PECHS society got precarious, as the notorious Mehmoodabad Nullah was filled. Likewise, several Katchi Abadis near Malir Naddi, Orangi Nullah and Gujjar Nullah were at the verge of getting flooded.

In North Karachi, several small rainwater drains, which come under the District Municipal Corporation (DMC) Central, were partially cleaned before the rainfall. However, the filth taken out from them was not lifted.

“After the rain, all the garbage and filth that was taken out from the drains starting floating on roads,” said a resident of the area, Syed Hasban. “It is the useless exercise the authorities carry out every year which puts the residents in more trouble,” he said.

Authorities’ visits

The mayor and Sindh Governor Imran Ismail visited various areas of the city together for around four hours. Meanwhile, Sindh Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani also made visits to some areas of Karachi separately.

Speaking to the media, the governor said the KMC teams were present in the streets of Karachi to deal with problems caused by the rain. He added that the mayor needed support from the provincial and federal governments.

The governor and the mayor also monitored the cleaning work of the Mehmoodabad, PIDC and Gujjar drains.

Akhtar directed KMC officials to enhance manpower and machineries on roads that were submerged. He assured that staff of the KMC will remain in streets even during night.

Ghani visited Lyari, Clifton and other areas. He was briefed by West Deputy Commissioner Zahid Hussain Memon regarding the rain situation in District West, particularly Orangi Town.

The local government minister admitted that rainwater was accumulated in some areas of the city. The relevant municipal staff and elected representatives were monitoring the situation, he said.

He also expressed his displeasure at the construction work of Green Line project, which according to him, had caused hindrances in the drainage of rainwater.