Around 25,000 manholes in various city roads and streets are uncovered, posing grave danger to the citizens, motorists and especially children settled around. Citizens complained that various people have fallen into such uncovered manholes and have sustained injuries but the civic authorities particularly the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KW&SB) are showing negligence to resolve this issue.
Kamal Tahir, a resident of densely populated Lyari Town's Bihar Colony told Business Recorder that a number of children and motorists have sustained injuries after falling into such uncovered manholes. He deplored the residents have lodged complained with the concerned civic authorities and local bodies elected members, but to no avail.
"The threat to lives of motorists and pedestrians becomes obvious when there are uncovered manhole and absence of streetlights." said Sakhawat Ali who is a resident of Malir.
People at various city locations have been facing similar kind of situation, he added.
Sources in KW&SB said after receiving various complaints from the citizens, the Managing Director (MD) Khalid Mehmood Shaikh convened a meeting with Chief Engineers, Superintendent Engineers and Executive Engineers and directed them to cover these holes as soon as possible.
A KW&SB statement also said the MD has asked the officials to cover all manholes and work in this regard should be initiated before the start of holy month of Muharram.
On the initial phase, the MD directed his subordinates to cover 5,000 manholes with putting ring slabs to avoid any untoward incidents. While for the remaining 20,000 or more, Khalid asked the officials to conduct survey and invite tenders.
He said the slabs must be of high quality material which can bear the burden of heavy vehicles such as trucks and dumpers.
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