'Sleeping beauty' campaign gathers momentum as cantonment board takes notice

CBC chief sanitary inspector Shabbir Hussain says they have been working rigorously to cover all potholes in DHA

KARACHI: As the campaign highlighting open manholes by drawing the chief minister's stencil bore fruit, with orders issued to fix all such issues 'or else', residents of DHA and Clifton felt the need to follow in similar footsteps.

Ali Akbar Fakhruddin, who owns Burhani Autos on 12th Commercial Street in DHA Phase II, recently posted a photograph of a manhole with a missing cover right outside his shop.



"After the market is closed and when it becomes dark once the lights go off, anyone can become a victim [by tripping]," said Fakhruddin, who said he has complained to the authorities several times but there has been no response.

Several commercial areas, and even a few residential neighbourhoods in DHA are home to broken manholes and uncovered ditches, filled with garbage. At a famous juice outlet in DHA Phase II, waiters serve while moving around a manhole missing a cover.

In other parts of DHA, such as main Saba Avenue near Khayaban-e-Seher, there is a pothole strewn with garbage.  Even in Zamzama commercial, residents and shopkeepers have resorted to covering manholes with tree trunks and branches.



A Tauheed Commercial resident, Mrs Saeed, remarked that open ditches on the road cause problems for drivers as well as for those walking in the area. She added that it causes problems especially during rain.

Residents hope the relevant authorities will step up to their responsibility after the recent social media frenzy when the chief minister's face was stencilled next to open manholes in other parts of the city.

For their part, Cantonment Board Clifton's (CBC) chief sanitary inspector Shabbir Hussain insisted that, for the last few days, they have been working rigorously to cover all potholes in DHA. CBC is introducing a different colour code for every manhole cover for every phase of DHA, he explained.

He admitted in many commercial areas, or localities in Delhi Colony and Punjab Colony, the problem of open potholes persists. "Since the streets are narrow, the water tankers and heavy vehicles that pass through keep damaging covers. Other times they are stolen by people," Hussain said. 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 8^th, 2016.