Pathetic rain measures leave people physically, mentally, financially hurt

People in Karachi’s Central and West districts lost millions of rupees as Monday’s hour-long downpour damaged their properties. Besides causing them financial losses, the pathetic rain measures by the authorities left them scarred physically as well as psychologically, while the Sindh and local governments continue to blame each other.

Rain was reported in the Orangi Town, Pathan Colony, Banaras, Sakhi Hassan, Five Star Chowrangi, Nazimabad, Gulberg, Ayesha Manzil, Buffer Zone, Powerhouse Chowrangi, Gulshan and Gulistan-e-Jauhar localities. Nazimabad recorded the highest precipitation at 34mm.

The major reason for the devastation in the two districts was encroachment of the minor and major storm water drains in their respective localities. Interestingly, both the elected chairmen of the Central and West district municipal corporations (DMCs) belong to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).

The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) is responsible for 48 major storm water drains, while 500 minor drains fall under the purview of the six DMCs. But the elected councils of the KMC and DMCs always complain of a lack of funds to clean these drains.

It wasn’t until July 2 that the KMC and DMCs got around to start cleaning the city’s nullahs — after holding several news conferences against the provincial government and demanding funds.

The entire District Central drowned after the overflowing of the Gujjar Nullah, the city’s biggest storm water drain starting from New Karachi and ending at the Chona Depot in Haji Mureed Goth, where it falls into the Lyari River.

The drain crosses Rashid Minhas Road at Shafiq Morr and goes towards the Café Piyala Hotel and all the way to the Ziauddin Hospital and Liaquatabad before it falls into the river. In October 2018, the long-awaited Gujjar Nullah rehabilitation project kicked off again at a cost of Rs12.5 billion. The project included the shifting of 30,000 residents and the construction of 24-feet-wide service roads on both sides of the drain.

The Pakistan Peoples Party-led Sindh government and the MQM-led local government in Karachi had been keen on starting the project that dates back to 2007. But the project never really saw the light of day.

Still flooded

Water and filth that inundated major arteries in the Central and West districts had receded by Monday night, leaving behind a huge swamp of mud as well as monetary losses for the residents. Water could not be drained from a lot of other areas as well.

In Orangi Town several storm water drains overflowed again on Tuesday. In District West’s Chishti Nagar rainwater could not be drained from houses. Rainwater accumulated in the Landi Kotal Chowrangi, Five Star, Sakhi Hassan and KDA Chowrangi areas was still not cleared until the evening.

Due to a nullah’s wall collapse, houses and shops in District Central’s Kashmir Colony, Pak Colony and Waheedabad areas continued to remain flooded. Water from shops and houses in Liaquatabad could not be drained after the Gujjar Nullah overflowed in the neighbourhood.

Rainwater flowed in through all three gates of the Saifee Hospital at Five Star Chowrangi, leaving no passage for patients or ambulances to enter the facility. While no Central DMC machinery was in sight, citizens were seen drying up mud puddles on their own.

The roads were still underwater at Gulberg’s Peoples Chowrangi, with the nullahs continuing to overflow. The minor storm water drain at the median of Peoples Chowrangi and Gulberg Town carries water to the Gujjar Nullah, which was chock-full.

Residents of Orangi Town Sector 11½ also continued to deal with the aftermath of Monday’s downpour. The entire area was covered with a muddy swamp and the garbage that the overflowing drains had brought in.

A local woman recalled how all of their electrical appliances stopped working after the water flooded their houses. “It was up to our necks,” she said, adding that she and her children were stranded inside their home and had to be rescued through the windows.

Another resident said that a storm water drain of only five feet was constructed in the area, following which the locals started facing problems. “Filth and garbage is everywhere after the water receded.”

Lost money

All the shops in Golimar faced losses of millions of rupees. An auto shop owner near Golimar, Asad Saleem, said they could not run their business on Tuesday. “When we reached our shops in the morning, we found that the water had drained out, but five or six inches of muddy puddles had blocked our shop’s shutters.”

He said that such a situation required a tractor or a machine to dry up those puddles, which could not be arranged because the entire District Central was facing the same problem. A furniture market shopkeeper in Liaquatabad shared how they did not even get the opportunity to move their furniture to a safe place after rainwater started flooding the area on Monday evening.

He said that by Tuesday, when they opened their shops, all of their furniture worth millions of rupees was destroyed. “Who is responsible for this?” he asked, lamenting that they pay their taxes to the government and get this in return.

Several cars and motorbikes were also destroyed in District Central, and mechanics were not available to fix the vehicles that had broken down. A Federal C Area residents said his car had completely drowned, adding that he could not find any mechanic because they had been trying to get their shops cleared.

Power outages

Amid all this chaos, several areas of the city continued to face power outages. Electricity supply to most of the areas in the Central and West districts that were flooded could not be restored.

Umair Alvi of the FC Area shared how power in their locality could not be restored even by Tuesday night because rainwater could not be drained out of several areas. Meanwhile, K-Electric lamented in a press statement that during the rains they faced operational challenges due to more than 2,000 exaggerated or fake emergency complaints, saying that such complaints resulted in the diversion of constrained resources from other serious hazards and were an underlying reason for extended outages in a few areas.