KARACHI: An eight-year-old child died on Monday after he fell into an uncovered manhole while playing outside his house in Karachi’s Korangi area, said police.
Earlier this month, the body of a three-year-old boy, Ibrahim, who fell into an open manhole in Karachi’s Gulshan-i-Iqbal was recovered on December 1, more than 12 hours after the incident was first reported.
Following the tragedy, many political parties held protests against the provincial administration and demanded that the Karachi mayor resign, while pleas were also filed in courts demanding action against city officials.
The incident also prompted the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) to increase the budget of 246 union committees (UCs) to exclusively maintain manhole covers and streetlights.
The latest victim, identified as Dilbar, was playing outside his residence with other area children when the tragedy occurred, Korangi Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) Fida Husain Janwari told media.
The child’s relatives rushed to the spot, but were unable to save him. By the time the body was recovered, the child had died. SSP Janwari, along with other officials, later visited the spot where the accident happened and met the bereaved family.
The body was shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for legal formalities.
In Karachi, responsibilities for drains, roads, footpaths, sewerage, water supply and public safety are divided among the KMC, 25 town municipal corporations, around 250 union committees, the KDA, the water and sewerage corporation, cantonment boards, the Sindh government and private utilities.
The city is run by a patchwork of authorities that rarely coordinate, and often contradict one another.
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