Sewage floods Gulberg but KWSB showing disparity

The Karachi Water & Sewerage Board (KWSB) seems to be displaying disparity as regards addressing the sewage woes of the people of the metropolitan city.

After the sewage line collapsed on a VIP Sharea Faisal near the Metropole Hotel this past Friday, all the authorities, including Karachi Commissioner Iftikhar Shallwani, immediately sprang into action, resulting in the relentless repair work.

Contrary to this, District Central’s Gulberg Town has been inundated with sewage for the past 10 days, for the same reason as that of Sharea Faisal, but the authorities seemed to have turned a blind eye to that.

The residents fear that if it rains more this weekend, the entire town can be flooded. A sewage line just behind the Centrum Mall, at the bank of the Lyari River, collapsed exactly the same way it did at Sharea Faisal.

According to the elected councillor of the town, Muhammad Salman, Gulberg Town’s 21 number and 16 number areas, including the industrial area and several housing societies, have been inundated with sewage. Salman pointed out that the road leading to the Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases, the only state-run heart hospital in the district, has also been flooded by sewage.

“The entire town’s sewage goes behind the Centrum Mall and falls into the Lyari River,” said the councillor, adding that just at the bank of the river, the sewage line collapsed under the footpath.

When this correspondent visited the area, not only could all the roads be seen submerged in wastewater but all the manholes were uncovered as well. “We have removed the covers of the manholes and directed the passage of the sewage oozing out of the collapsed line towards those manholes,” said Zubair Shabbir, a resident. “Had we not done that, the sewage would have entered our homes.”

The residents lamented that when they lodged a complaint with the relevant officials of the water board, they blamed lack of funds and advised them to get the sewage lines repaired on their own.

“We get a monthly bill from the KWSB. We pay it regularly,” said an elderly Mushtaq Ahmed. “Why would we repair a water line with our own money?”

Rehan Hashmi, District Central’s elected chairman, feared that if it rains heavily over the weekend, the entire Gulberg Town can face a serious emergency situation. Hashmi said that on Tuesday they had held a protest demonstration outside the KWSB’s office in Gulberg Town and brought the issue into their notice.

Meanwhile, Salman said that the assistant executive engineer of the KWSB, Nehal, has categorically informed him that the water board does not have any funds to repair the line. “The elected chairman, vice-chairman and all the four councillors of the town went to the water board’s office, but no one paid any heed to the alarming issue.”

Nehal told The News that it is a 150-feet-long and 18-inch-diameter sewage line that has collapsed. “We would need an excavator to dig 12 feet deep and repair the line,” he said, adding that for this purpose he has already dispatched a proposal to his high-ups.

He assured that after a tendering process the line would be removed, which could take a few months. When asked to share the copy of the proposal, he refused.

The deputy commissioner of the district, Farhan Ghani Khan, said that he was unaware of the issue. He, however, assured that he would look into the matter and direct the relevant authorities to repair the line.

The KWSB’s superintendent engineer for District Central, Ovasi Malik, and the water board’s managing director, Asadullah Khan, did not respond when contacted by The News. The board’s spokesperson, Rizwan Ahmed, refused to believe that any of the KWSB’s officers would ask the residents to repair the line on their own. “This is not how it works in our board. If the line is broken, it would be repaired.”