KARACHI: The residents of Saadi Town and surrounding gated communities in Scheme 33 of District East deserve all praise for their resilience and positive attitude during the recent flooding in their localities as most of the water receded on Friday.
A rug hangs out to dry from a balcony of a home. Grey clouds still cover the sky but life carries on as usual in Saadi Town. Just a couple of days ago, the houses here looked like water-locked islands.
“The water did not enter our houses. Since this is not that old a town, the houses are built quite above the roads so we were fine, despite being marooned,” Babar Mirza, resident of Saadi Town, Block 7, told media.
Even though the water has receded, it has left the roads in bad shape with an uneven surface, cracks and potholes. But the wild grass and weeds in vacant plots are lush green from the rain. They provide distraction from the moisture stains on brick walls.
Communities in Scheme 33 say their expensive residential town ‘turns into a katchi abadi’ when it rains
Saadi Town, Pir Zaman Town, Saadi Gardens and all other townships were submerged, according to the residents. The water spared none of them. They were all in the same boat.
“It was alright. I have lived in Saadi Town for some 22 years now. We have been through this before,” said Majida Bibi, another resident. She said they were prepared for that this time. “Our pantries were well-stocked as we had only recently shopped for the entire household at the start of the month. Even though we were trapped in our homes, we had adequate supplies to live on so there was no need to panic. And see how quickly the water receded,” she pointed out.
Haji Haroon Abdul Latif who runs a pan shop in the area said that he lived nearby at Mosamiat. “By the time I closed my shop to go home, the water level had risen to two to three feet. My motorcycle stopped in the water. But there was a mechanic I knew of not far from here, who was able to fix it,” said the pan shop owner. “We did not expect the water to recede so soon but it did thankfully,” he added.
Meanwhile, Sher Azam, who runs a footwear shop built at quite a height in one street which still had some water, smilingly shared his ordeal. “My shop is quite high from the ground, as you can see. But the water reached its highest step. Then if any vehicle passed by, the current turned the water into little tides which entered my shop. Some show boxes were ruined but thankfully I got a high table just in time to shift my stuff on it and hence save it,” he said.
“Now when most of the water has left this area with just a few streets still submerged, passers-by question me why there is still so much water here, or whether I have complained about it anywhere. This is neither my doing nor my fault,” he shrugged and frowned.
media then reached out to information secretary for Saadi Town, Saadi Garden Action Committee, Irfan Mughal, who said that flooding in the area was not as big an issue as the infrastructure.
“Our gutter lines, laid out in 1975, have collapsed. The builder tells us that it is not so as actually the lines in Safoora Goth are blocked. But then why are the gutters there not overflowing?” The resident and information secretary wondered.
He also informed that there was a makeshift storm-water drain dug out in their area which opens into the Malir River. “But it was blocked by one of the builders here while using it as a dumping site for trash. There is also a pipeline under the Superhighway with one end opening at the Northern Bypass and the other at Saadi Town. The flooding rainwater enters through it to reach Saadi Gardens and after passing through there it flows into Saadi Town. This flowing flood of water from the Northern Bypass to Saadi Town takes around seven to eight hours but no one cares to block it at any point from entering a residential area,” he complained.
“Then when we are flooded, we find the media here doing photo shoots of our plight,” he said.
“We are an expensive residential town but we turn into a katchi abadi [shanty town] as soon as it rains heavily,” Mr Mughal regretted. “And on top of that we are paying double residential and water taxes here as we have to pay the builder of our township as well as the cantonment board,” he said.
Published in media, September 13th, 2025
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