Damaged water line leaves roads submerged

Even funeral processions wade through water in Federal B Area’s Block 20

KARACHI:

A broken water line has left the residents of Federal B Area's Block 20 virtually trapped inside their homes for two weeks.

With the chehlum of Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA) right around the corner, residents are worried about how they will be able carry out their rituals. The residents claim that, for the last two weeks, the streets have been completely inundated with water, leaving them unable to move around.



"Funeral vans and Edhi ambulances all pass through this road," said Oun Abbas, a resident. During the Muharram processions, when all the roads leading to Ancholi were blocked, this one passage remained open, which is now completely inundated with water, he said.

"This is clean water," he said pointing towards the flowing water on the road. "We're not getting any water in our homes because it's flowing on the roads," lamented Abbas.

Prayer leader of the Khairul Amal mosque Maulana Muhammad Hasan said that daily at least five funeral processions pass through the inundated road. "People heading towards the mosque for prayers also have to pass through this water," he said, adding that it has been two weeks and the water level is continuously rising.



"Our homes and mosque are not getting any water, instead it is flowing lavishly on the roads," he said.

According to Abbas, several applications have been submitted with the deputy commissioner's office and the Karachi Water and Sewage Board (KWSB) but no one has paid them any heed.

Meanwhile, the Central deputy commissioner, Afzal Zaidi, said that he knew nothing about the situation, but would immediately take appropriate action. KWSB's Central district chief engineer Jamil Akhtar said his department does not take action until an application is submitted to them.

Talking to The Express Tribune, he said that the residents have to go to the KWSB office in Gulberg Town with an application and then only would any action be taken.

When asked about KWSB's claims of proper arrangements before chehlum, Akhtar responded that it was not possible for his staff to check each and every street in the Central district.

Meanwhile, the superintendent engineer of Gulberg Town, Ali Sheikh, said that the broken water line has been repaired and there was no more water present in the area. To this, Abbas responded that a KWSB team had come to the area, but only dug up a portion of the road where the water was flowing, after which the situation worsened.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 27^th, 2015.