Having incurred huge losses, Gulistan-e-Jauhar residents demand compensation

Residents of Gulistan-e-Jauhar demand compensation for their rain-related losses as they grapple with the aftermath of Sunday’s rainfall that wreaked havoc in the locality. On Sunday, dozens of cars swept away in rainwater, motorcycles fell in drains and houses flooded with rainwater and sewage, incurring millions of rupees loss to residents of the area.

Meanwhile, the Cantonment Board Faisal (CBF), Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) and Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) played blame game with each other regarding whose responsibility it was to clean the drains.

The rainwater gushed inside the Sindh Baloch Society in Gulistan-e-Jauhar Block 12 under the administrative control of the CBF, breaking down a K-Electric (KE) pole and a wall, separating the society with a shanty town.

As the RCC wall collapsed, it fell on a rickshaw, causing injuries to a man and his children. “The ambulance could not enter the area and the family was taken to hospital in another rickshaw,” said one of the residents of the society, Uzair. “The water entered with so much pressure in the society that it dismantled everything it came in its way.”

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf president of Gulistan-e-Jauhar Block 12 Shakeel Ahmed told The News how the nullah from coming from Gulistan-e-Jauhar Block 14 towards Block 12 overflowed.

“The nullah falls in the Malir River at Pehelwan Goth,” he said, adding that despite repeated complaints, the authorities did not clean it before the rainfall. According to Ahmed, On Monday, two tractors were deployed at the large drain in front of Rabia City by PTI MPA Bilal Ghafar.

As many as 40 apartments of Sana Apartments near Rado Bakery were completely inundated with the rainwater. “Water gushed inside the apartment building as if a dam had broken,” recalled one of the residents. “All bikes and cars parked inside were half drowned.” Even by Monday, power could not be restored at the meter room of the apartment that was flooded with the rainwater that resulted in sparks and blasts.

A team of K-Electric, according to one of the union members of the apartment, Sameer, fixed the meters but as soon as they left, there were again sparks and blasts, and the apartments plunged into darkness.

“Almost 10 years back the apartments were flooded, but this time, it was unprecedented,” he said, adding that the families residing inside the apartment incurred millions of rupees losses and no government official had even paid a visit. He demanded compensation from the government for their losses.

Scores of cars that had been parked outside the apartment on Sunday had to have their seats and dashboards dismantled. Ali opened his car’s bonnet to find that the engine was filled in water. “Let’s just pray that water did not damage the engine,” he said, adding that the car’s interior was destroyed.

Another resident of Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Humayun Ahmed Khan, lamented how his motorcycle swept away in the gushing water and was beyond repair now. The elected councillor of Muttahida Qaumi Movement of Gulistan-e-Jauhar’s ward number five in the CBF told The News how the drains were not the responsibility of the cantonment board, but the KWSB. Meanwhile, a KWSB assistant executive engineer put the blame on the KMC and CBF and said that the drains were never the responsibility of the KWSB.

A KMC officer said the drains in the cantonment areas were not their responsibility.

— Report by Oonib Azam