Sewerage & Drainage
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NEWSCLIPPINGS JULY TO DECEMBER 2017 SEWERAGE & DRAINAGE Urban Resource Centre A-2, 2nd floor, Westland Trade Centre, Block 7&8, C-5, Shaheed-e-Millat Road, Karachi. Tel: 021-4559317, Fax: 021-4387692, Email: [email protected], Website: www.urckarachi.org Facebook: www.facebook.com/URCKHI Twitter: https://twitter.com/urc_karachi Drainage systems fail; DMCs, KMC nowhere in sight As water started to recede from the streets and thoroughfares of the city, it exposed a sorry condition of the roads that had been submerged in water for several hours. Rangers‘ officials, along with machinery and police personnel, were seen Thursday night doing rescue work on the roads of the city. The main thoroughfares, including II Chundrigar Road, University Road, Sharae Quaideen, Sharae Pakistan, Khayaban-e-Bahria, Khayban-e-Shahbaz and the road near the high court had pot holes, while a few of them remained inundated till Friday evening. Karachi braces for rain as Met dept predicts showers across country Advertisement Ad After the heavy downpour on Thursday night, social media was flooded with pictures and videos of the newly-built Tariq Road and University Road, showing the flood on one track of Tariq Road coming from Bahadurabad towards Allah Wali Chowrangi. Meanwhile, on the newly-built section of University Road from Hassan Square till Nipa, the road was submerged in eight inches of rainwater. ―These two new roads can sustain the rain water, as both have storm water drains and are newly-built,‖ claimed on Thursday evening District East Chairperson Moeed Anwar. Karachi swamped – and paralysed However, to his surprise both roads were submerged by late night. Niaz Soomro, director of the recently formed local government directorate which was responsible for making these two projects, shared that the situation was not so bad. The water had accumulated since the rain was very heavy. However, one must also notice how fast the water was drained out, Soomro commented, claiming there must be some sort of blockage in the drains, otherwise it would have functioned better. A portion of the road in Essa Nagri near Hassan Square caved in, blocking traffic movement towards Nazimabad and Liaquatabad. However, repair work is ongoing. Karachi inundated as monsoon ‘preparations’ fail Meanwhile, the situation in District Central, in areas surrounding its main storm water drain, Gujjar Nullah, remained deteriorated as it had overflown even before the heavy downpour of Thursday night. DMC Central Chairperson Rehan Hashmi admitted the situation had gotten out of control and said they have imposed an emergency in the area. II Chundrigar Road Considered the business hub of the city, II Chundrigar Road was mostly inundated. DMC South Chairperson Malik Fayyaz told The Express Tribune that he had already told the media that several of the storm water drains in his area required cleaning, but the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) never cooperated with DMC South. Roads in Malir, Korangi, Gulzar-e-Hijri, North Nazimabad and MA Jinnah Road and Sharae Pakistan were also badly affected by the rain. Lack of rain brings clouds of drought to Cholistan ―We are not satisfied with the situation of the city,‖ said Deputy Mayor Arshad Vohra. The situation got out of control as most of the storm water drains were filled with garbage and other solid waste material, he said, adding that the dumping of solid waste in storm water drains should be declared a criminal act and the DMC chairperson should get magisterial powers to arrest culprits. (By SHEHARYAR ALI The Express Tribune 14, 01/07/2017) A week after rain: SC orders cleanliness in Karachi The Supreme Court (SC) took on Tuesday notice of the failure of the provincial and local authorities concerned to maintain cleanliness in the city after the first spell of the pre-monsoon rain wreaked havoc to the civic infrastructure. The apex court verbally directed the provincial chief secretary to ensure the city was cleaned of the filth as well as stagnant rainwater, which had submerged various thoroughfares and localities. A three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Gulzar Ahmed, gave these directions during the hearing of a case regarding encroachments over the bank of a canal in Sukkur, at the SC‘s Karachi Registry Branch. Advertisement Ad Karachi braces for rain as Met dept predicts showers across country Heavy rains had lashed the metropolis starting last Thursday, as the pre-monsoon system entered the region, resulting in heavy rains across the country. The rains exposed the efficiency of the civic agencies in the city, where the tug-of-war between the Pakistan Peoples Party-led provincial government and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-led Karachi Metropolitan Corporation had created hurdles in proper lifting and disposal of the garbage as well as cleaning of the major sewerage and rainwater drains. The maladministration, on part of the provincial and local authorities, had led to poor pre-monsoon arrangements to cope with the rainy monsoon season. Skies open up as Karachi experiences first monsoon shower Several residential localities as well as the commercial district in downtown had submerged under several feet of rainwater mixed with sewerage. The apex court‘s bench, which also included Justices Maqbool Baqar and Sajjad Ali Shah, found that the poor sanitation conditions had not improved even after the lapse of a whole week. Therefore, they took notice of the poor drainage system that had led to the inundation of the main road in front of the apex court‘s registry branch. The judges inquired from the chief secretary, Rizwan Memon, who was appearing in court in connection with other cases, on why the administration had failed to effectively cope with the situation that arose post-rains in the city. Surprise rain drenches Karachi; six dead Justice Gulzar Ahmed told the top provincial bureaucrat that there were several localities, which had almost submerged during the rain. The judge further told the officer that according to media reports, the residents in Korangi and other parts of the city were even unable to get out of their houses. He inquired from the chief secretary why he had not paid a visit to such localities, where citizens were facing great difficulty after the rain. ―You will have to visit such areas in a boat,‖ the judge remarked. ―Alright,‖ Memon replied, adding that the city will soon be cleaned. ―Nothing is alright,‖ the apex court bench‘s head told the officer. It’s raining in Karachi and no one can handle it ―The city is in a bad condition,‖ Justice Ahmed said, drawing attention of the top provincial government officer, who is supposed to supervise and look after civil works in the entire province. The bench members expressed their extreme displeasure over the poor state of administration, which had not fulfilled its duties to remove the filth as well as ensure smooth flow of the sewerage water in the drains, which were overflowing and inundating various roads, streets, main arteries as well as commercial and residential areas across the city. The bench directed Memon to get the city cleaned of the mess created during last week‘s rains. The bench also gave two weeks time to the Sindh Building Control Authority and other officials to file comments regarding the ownership of 4.7 acres of land along the canal in Sukkur which was allegedly encroached by private persons. (By Naeem Sahoutara The Express Tribune 13, 05/07/2017) Protest against KWSB drive A large number of people gathered at the Banaras Bridge on Friday and staged a demonstration against the disconnection of a water connection carried out by the water utility staffers after much difficulty and with police help on Thursday. The protesters demanded that the connection be restored immediately. The demonstrators were claiming that the disconnected connection was legal, while the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board spokesperson, responding Dawn‘s queries, insisted that the connection was an illegal one and would not be restored. Many areas were facing severe water shortage as their water was being stolen through the illegal connection, the spokesperson added. The traffic remained suspended for a considerable time on Friday afternoon owing to the demonstration. The demonstrators chanted slogans against the city administration and area police with whose assistance the water board staffers had cut the illegal water connection a day earlier. Despite repeated attempts Pirabad police chief Mohammad Mithal could not be contacted. Advertisement Earlier, on Thursday the staffers of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board accompanied by the city administration and area police, on second attempt, had disconnected an illegal connection from the water board‘s main line. Residents of Frontier Colony and other localities in the vicinity were suffering owing to the illegal connection. Responding to Dawn‘s queries, a KWSB spokesperson said when the water board‘s disconnection squad, accompanied by area police and the city administration, started excavation to disconnect the illegal connection taken from the 48-inch main pipeline near Banaras Bridge on Wednesday people benefitting from the illegal connection gathered and tried to stop the work. He said that many miscreants gathered at the excavation site and started chanting slogans in a bid to stop the work. Later on they started pelting stones, which shattered the windows of the water board‘s excavator. Sensing more trouble, the excavation was called off. The spokesperson said the water board‘s team, again accompanied by the police and city administration officials, made the second attempt during the night between Wednesday and Thursday, and disconnected the 10-inch illegal connection. (By Bhagwandas Dawn 19, 08/07/2017) Ahead of the rains: Residents in despair as promises of restoring Gujjar Nullah fall short As the probability of another rain spell hitting the city increases, residents in localities surrounding the Gujjar Nullah fear urban flooding.