Karachi Today: The agony of Karachiites scores on Monday saw no end as parts of the city remained waterlogged and helpless, agonizing 05 days after record-breaking rainfall in the metropolis caused widespread devastation. Frustrated by the lack of action on the part of the departments concerned, DHA and Clifton residents gathered outside the Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC) office to protest the post-rain situation in both localities.
The demonstrators, holding placards and shouting slogans, requested improvement of the drainage system in the areas, and restoring and constructing roads from scratch. They also called on the CBC chief executive to resolve their concerns. Also, protestors called for an audit of the funds raised in the name of flood relief and called on the board to ensure cleanup operation.
Some of the other demands included the resignation of the CBC head and the DHA administrator to drain areas within the next three days, to restore electricity and gas in all phases within the next 24 hours, and to spray against mosquitoes.
Some of the demonstrators were later called into the CBC office to address the demands put forward by the people, after which the demonstration ended, according to Geo News.
Meanwhile, sharing an update at 5 pm, lawyer and activist Jibran Nasir said that despite 18-hour attempts by him and others to drain the water in the city, the Bukhari Commercial City remained an “endless lake”. He said DHA’s tankers were present at the site but they did not have suction machines or other equipment.
Nasir further said the CBC still “remained clueless” as to which points of nullahs had to be unblocked, adding that if the CBC had operated in a timely manner, the problem would have been resolved in a day or two instead of four or five days.
Sindh Government Statement On DHA Issue:
Sindh government spokesman Murtaza Wahab said the provincial government had put their machines at Khayaban-e-Muhafiz and Khayaban-e-Shujaat to drain the Bukhari Commercial rainwater out.
“We are facing difficulties with the drains at DHA but are trying our best,” he said. He added that the Sindh government had deployed more machines to help drain the rainwater in DHA.
Also, in a tweet, he said, “There is just too much water in DHA. 26 street DHA is again getting flooded, #SindhGovt is trying to drain out water from muhafiz, shujaat and bukhari right now”. Furthermore, he said that small pumps and bowsers being used in DHA would take “forever” to clear the areas.
“Such pumps need to be placed since the quantity of water is too huge,” he said, sharing a video of a larger machine. “One machine has already been placed by the provincial government and three more such machines are being made [available] for various areas of Karachi.”
The tweet
Information minister Shibli Faraz noted that the people of Karachi were currently going through a tough time.
“The federal government and its institutions are providing assistance to the Sindh government to deal with the flood-like situation in the metropolis.”
Tweet of Senator Shibli Faraz @shiblifaraz
’95pc Of City Re-energized’:
K-Electric (KE) said in a statement its field teams and operational workers worked round the clock to restore power to areas still affected by waterlogging and drainage problems. “Despite hurdles and impediments to restoration work because of standing rainwater in several parts of DHA and Clifton, KE has been able to re-energize more than 95pc of the city.”
“These feeders serve Bukhari Commercial Area, Ittehad Commercial Area, Khayaban-e-Shahbaz, and parts of 26th street,” the statement said.
Lawyer And Activist Jibran Nasir On This Issue:
Meanwhile, lawyer and activist Jibran Nasir and a team of volunteers took to the streets in the early morning hours to drain rainwater that was still collecting in parts of DHA and Clifton.
“After six hours, our team cleaned all the sewage sludge from KPT Underpass, Clifton before the morning rush hour to make all lanes operational to facilitate commuters on Monday morning,” he said in a tweet on Monday.
M Jibran Nasir’s Tweet
“We are now focusing all efforts on Bukhari Commercial which has been reduced to a lake.”
Later, Nasir said in a Facebook video update that work was underway to drain the water in Bukhari Ad.
“There is rainwater as far as the eye can see,” he said, showing the situation in the area. Nasir also called on organizations and individuals to join efforts to support those impacted by the cleanup. “Nothing will be achieved by just making noise and complaining. If Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC) and DHA wanted to do something, they would have done it on the first day”. He maintained that if departments concerned worked efficiently, citizens would not be forced to take such “desperate measures”.
Citizens’ Resentment:
It is certain that when there is a huge power breakdown and the situation has got worsen the citizen would not stay quiet. Likewise, these did. Here are a few of the glimpse of the protest that happened early today in Karachi against Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC).
The Ten Demands By The Citizens:
The following are the 10 demands that were made by the citizens to the authority;
1. Drain the water.
2. Rebuild proper drainage (not in the middle of the roads/streets)
3. Rebuild roads / streets & pavements.
4. Ensure proper daily cleaning & garbage disposal through proper waste management.
5. Supply clean water to your residents & commercial areas, stop partnership with water/tanker mafia.
6. Ensure KE never repeats what they did.
7. Remove & manage hazardous killer cable networks hanging on all roads & streets.
8. Reign in your vigilance, they should be vigilant to identify problems not create them.
9. Install permanent & professional staff / CEOs and ensure one window operation.
10. Abolish bribery & ensure to remove it from grassroots to the very top.
DHA’s Post Rain Condition:
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