Defying health advisory, picnickers flock to Hub Canal

With scores bating in water channel, there is risk of it getting contaminated with coronavirus

KARACHI:

Throwing all precaution to wind, picnickers flocked on Sunday to one of the link canals supplying water to Karachi from Hub source where scores were witnessed splashing around in the water channel.

Buses full of rollicking but reckless passengers, as well rickshaws, cars and vehicles carrying scores of people made their way to the canal, which was treated more like a picnic spot.

And while citizens continued to disregard the government's health advisory- issued to curb the spread of the deadly coronavirus that has claimed over 600 lives in the province so far- police officials deployed at nearby pickets played the role of mere spectators.

No water for Karachi even as Hub Dam level rises

Looming hazards

With scores bathing in the water channel at a time, the risk of water in it getting polluted, and more importantly, getting contaminated with the coronavirus has heightened. But the damage does not stop here. Once contaminated, the water, in turn, would be the source of spreading Covid-19 and other abdominal and skin diseases among those bathing in it for leisure.

According Local district council representative Lateef Rind, people not just bathe in the water channel but also use the water to wash their vehicles and throw the used water back into the channel, polluting the water meant for drinking with chemicals and detergents.

Pointing out that picnickers' reckless behavior was also putting the residents of nearby localities at risk, many of whom now feared the spread of the coronavirus in the area, he called for police and other law enforcement personnel to stop people from crowding the water channel. He further demanded of the Sindh government, Karachi commissioner Iftikhar Shallwani and Sindh IGP to increase police deployment near Hub Dam so that disciplinary action could be taken against those violating pandemic standard operating procedures.

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Of late, the metropolis has been sizzling under soaring mercury and citizens, in search of leisure and respite from heat, are paying no heed to the government health advisory despite the steep rise in coronavirus cases in the city.

Besides, as Rind noted, water flow was high in the channel these days, increasing the risk of drowning.

In the recent past, multiple drowning incidents were reported in Sindh, including the death of a 10-year-old boy who drowned in Hub Dam near the Northern Bypass on May 26. In addition, the death of seven children was reported on Friday who drowned while bathing in Indus River in Thatta.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 8^th, 2020.