Key Takeaways
- Residents and environmentalists protest against secret construction at Nehr-i-Khayam.
- Protesters call for full disclosure of plans and halt to ongoing work.
- Environmental concerns and potential flood risks highlighted.
Environmentalists and residents from Karachi gathered at the construction site of Nehr-i-Khayam on Sunday to protest against the building of a commercial belt, which they claim is being carried out in secret.
Protesters held up placards with messages such as 'Violation of Supreme Court orders', 'No food street on Nehr-i-Khayam', and 'Don’t suffocate our waterways'.
Founder and CEO of the Clifton Urban Forest, environmentalist Masood Lohar, warned that altering the natural link between the Obhayo Lagoon and the Gizri Creek could lead to floods and storms.
Rasha Tarek, a member of the Karachi Residents’ Community (District South), quoted the late Dawn columnist Ardeshir Cowasjee, who had called Nehr-i-Khayam 'one of the major lungs of the Clifton area', intended to carry rain and tidal water into the open sea.
Protesters demanded an immediate stop to the ongoing construction, which would narrow and alter the channel and its banks, and called for full disclosure of the approved designs, land boundaries, environmental assessments, Sepa decisions, contracts, and expenditure regarding the project.
Hummaa Ahmad, a resident of Clifton Block 5, questioned the lack of a public project information board and demanded full transparency, stating, 'We want to know exactly what is being constructed here.'
Sheeraz Qureshi, who has lived in Clifton Block 5 for 40 years, expressed concern about the potential disturbance to residents if a dense commercial area is built in the middle of a residential area.
Dr Nadia Kiran, a resident of an apartment overlooking Nehr-i-Khayam, warned that the proposed food street could lead to increased traffic, noise, and rush.
The protesters emphasized that the construction is illegal commercialisation and that the people of Pakistan are bearing the brunt of wrong decisions made by the government in the past, such as building dams in the wrong places and restricting the natural flow of rivers.
Nehr-i-Khayam is a natural link between the Obhayo Lagoon and the Gizri Creek. You can’t mess up with the marine ecosystem. If you do, you brace yourselves for floods, storms and tsunamis.
Masood Lohar, Founder and CEO of the Clifton Urban Forest
We want to know exactly what is being constructed here. We want full disclosure of the approved designs, land boundaries, environmental assessments, Sepa decisions, contracts and expenditure regarding the project.
Hummaa Ahmad, Resident of Clifton Block 5
You cannot build a dense commercial area in the middle of a dense residential area. That way you disturb all the residents.
Sheeraz Qureshi, Resident of Clifton Block 5 for 40 years
