City civic authorities accused Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) of poor water drainage infrastructure that had left Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and its allied bodies helpless to deal with intermittent spells of winter rain.

The water utility-KWSB and KMC and its district corporation indulged in blame game when citizens were languishing due to poor infrastructure and their failure to drain out rain water.

"Rain water could not be drained out due to poor performance of KWSB", Malik Fayyaz, Chairman District Municipal Corporation (DMC) South said. Fayyaz said water utility failed to repair the faulty sewage pumps in old city areas which badly affected the pumping at the time of wet spell.

He said that sewage lines are choked which needs overhauling and repairing as civic bodies could not be blamed on accumulation of rain water on major arteries and streets.

"Power outages at pumping stations have further compounded the problems of civic authorities," Fayyaz told Business Recorder.

When this correspondent visited sewage pump in Lyari, the operator Akbar told that pump could not be made operational due to power outages, besides battery of generator become defuse to extreme cold.

"I have informed the area official to arrange new battery so that I can run the pump", he said. Streets of Lyari and other parts of Old City area were submerged with rain water while KWSB staffers remained off duty in different areas.

Akbar also said that due to power outages he could not operate the pump so that the rain water was still accumulated on the streets. Unclean drain and choked nullahs have turned the pleasant weather into cumbersome for Karachi residents. The major drains including Gujar Nala, Malir Nadi and Lyari Nadi, besides the storm drains in different parts of the city could not go de-silted process.

However, when contacted Managing Director KWSB Misbahuddin Fareed, he rebutted the accusations of civic body saying that all pumping stations in district south are fully operational.

He accused KMC of not cleaning the rain water nullahs and drains prior to the forecast of rains in the city.

"It is the responsibility of KMC and DMCs to de-silt storm drains", Misbah said.

K-Electric teams remained active and overall power supply system remained intact on Saturday as city continued to experience recurring spells of rain. KE's Rapid Response Teams remained fully available and committee to restore any disruptions in power supply in affected areas.

Majority of the affected feeders were normalized within a few hours whereas uninterrupted supply to strategic installations including Airport and Dhabeji was ensured. KE teams remain in the field to address localized faults and individual queries. Affected areas include some parts of Korangi and Malir as well as Garden East. Customers in select blocks of Federal B Area, North Nazimabad and some parts of Gulshan-e-Iqbal were also affected by the rain related outage.

According to KE Spokesperson, restoring power supply in affected areas amid continuous spell of rain has been quite challenging however continuous stream of investment in systems, operations and processes have aided the utility provider in responding to queries with greater efficiency. K-Electric field teams and customer call centre remained operational round-the-clock to ensure supply in the cosmopolitan.

-Business Recorder