Karachi turns blind eye to waterclogged roads, power outage; residents protest

Karachi residents on Monday staged a protest as parts of the city remained waterlogged and without power for five days after record-breaking rainfall caused widespread devastation in the city.

Frustrated by the lack of action, residents of DHA and Clifton gathered outside the Clifton Cantonment Board (CBC) office to protest against the situation in the two localities, reports Dawn news.

The protesters, carrying placards and chanting slogans, demanded that the drainage system in the areas be improved and roads be repaired and made from scratch.

Footage from the protest showed some of the protesters attempting to storm the CBC office before being stopped by police officials.

While the Sindh government spokesman Murtaza Wahab said that machines have been deployed to help drain the rainwater, Information Minister Shibli Faraz added that the federal government and its institutions are providing assistance to deal with the situation.

In a statement, K-Electric (KE) said its field teams and operational staff were working round the clock to restore power to areas still facing outages, adding that waterlogging around sub-stations and inside residential premises was proving to be a hurdle, creating a public safety hazard.

So far at least 40 people have been killed due to rain-related incidents in Karachi.

(With inputs from IANS)