Ahead of the rains: Residents in despair as promises of restoring Gujjar Nullah fall short

Met office forecasts moderate to heavy rainfall in Karachi, lower Sindh next week

KARACHI: As the probability of another rain spell hitting the city increases, residents in localities surrounding the Gujjar Nullah fear urban flooding.

Stretching from North Karachi till Liaquatabad, the 13-kilometre-long Gujjar Nullah is one of the key storm water drains in Karachi's District Central. However, due to encroachments and solid waste that has accumulated inside it, these days the nullah is unable to sustain the flow of water and nearby localities remained inundated even several days after the rain.

In the 2017-18 provincial budget, Rs250 million has been allocated for the unapproved project of revamping of the Gujjar Nullah and construction of a service road on either side. The total cost of the project has been estimated at Rs1 billion and the project is targeted to be completed in 2019.



Earlier, the municipality officials had claimed that the nullah was in working condition. Officials of District Central, including Deputy Commissioner Fariduddin Mustafa, were confident that it could sustain rainfall of over 100 millimetres. Mustafa had also told the Express Tribune that in an operation against encroachments, 14,000 houses that had been illegally built upon the nullah were demolished without paying any compensation and only few of the illegal houses remainined as their cases was pending before the court. He had also shared that work to construct roads on either side of the nullah would start soon.

However, after the recent rainfall, almost all the surrounding localities, including several blocks of Federal B Area and North Nazimabad, were inundated with sewage and rainwater as the drain overflowed.

A view of encroachments on the Gujjar Nullah. PHOTO: ATHAR KHAN

We sent several complaints to the authorities before the rain as we were aware that it was filled with solid waste and could not drain the rainwater properly, said Umar Irshad, a resident of Federal B Area Block 5. Irshad added that after the rain, his area, which is considered a posh locality in District Central, looked as if a severe flood had hit it. Stench-emanating water entered ground floor of our house and we had no solution for that, he lamented.

A similar situation was observed in Federal B Area's blocks 12 and 18, North Nazimabad's blocks L and N, parts of Buffer Zone and localities near Shafiq Morr.

Irshad also pointed out that the rainwater drains in between main roads in District Central also overflowed either because the overflowing Gujjar Nullah could not take their water or they were also filled with garbage.

A resident of North Nazimabad Block N, Yousuf Jamal, said he has been witnessing such a situation for the past 15 years in the area. "I have been living here for the last 30 years and have been hearing about revamping of Gujjar Nullah since childhood. However, no such thing has ever happened here nor it is expected to happen in future," he said.



 

Authorities' versions

Talking to the Express Tribune, District Municipal Corporation (DMC) Central Chairperson Rehan Hashmi maintained that there are encroachments over the nullah that need to be demolished. He added that the local bodies' minister announced last year that the nullah would be widened and roads would be constructed on its either side. However, no action has been taken so far.

Commenting on the havoc caused by the overflow of Gujjar Nullah after the recent rain, Hashmi said the DMC had limited machinery but despite such constraints, they managed to control the situation. He stressed the need for urgent action in order to avoid any emergency situation in future.

Many drains in the District Central are filled with garbage. PHOTO: ATHAR KHAN

 

Senior municipal services director at the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, Masood Alam, said cleaning of all major drains is in process. He added that despite a limited budget, Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar has given directions to take all necessary actions to deal with rains.



Local Government Minister Jam Khan Shoro and District Central deputy commissioner were not available for comments.

 

Met Office forecast

The Pakistan Meteorological Department has forecast rains in the city next week.

According to the Met office spokesperson, Abdul Rashid, a system of moderate to heavy rainfall will hit the city after a week. He added that the intensity of the rainfall will be similar to that of the recent rainfall.

Rashid added that lower Sindh, including Tharparkar, Thatta, Badin, Mirpurkhas, Hyderabad and Dadu, and eastern part of Balochistan will also receive rainfall by the same system which is approaching after a week.