KWSC launches helpline to report open manholes, promises 24-hour response

KARACHI: In order to protect public, The  Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC) launches helpline to get complaints on open manhole.

For reporting open manholes, residents of Karachi can now call on 1334, and the executive engineer will provide manhole covers within 24 hours.

To make this work, the concerned officer is going to submit a compliance report to the chief engineer and will also inform the helpline staff. If the complaint is not attended to, executive engineers concerned will be held liable.

The aim is to avert accidents and fatalities from open manholes which have become a recurrent problem in Karachi.

According to data from Jinnah, Civil, and Abbasi Shaheed Hospitals, around 37 sewer fall incidents are reported to the emergency department each year, often resulting in severe injuries.

Some incidents can be lethal; the latest was the case of five-year-old Adab, who died after falling into an open manhole in Shah Faisal Colony. That is the first incident of such kind this year, but it proves once again that the problem is still not resolved with new occurrences of open manholes causing havoc in Karachi.

In 2024, 19 cases of children falling into open manholes were reported in the city, resulting in 19 deaths. All these repeated incidents have suggested that the government still lacks any major plans in preventing any of these avoidable deaths.

The helpline is a much-needed response, but it is left to be seen what meaningfully changes and how that would lessen accidents from open manholes.