Sinkhole emerges near Chief Minister House in Karachi

By
Afzal Nadeem Dogar
Sinkhole that has emerged on the Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road near CM House. — Reporter
Sinkhole that has emerged on the Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road near CM House. — Reporter 

KARACHI: A sinkhole has emerged on a road near the Chief Minister's House in the civil lines area of Karachi after a 72-inch wide sewerage line running under the road burst due to increased water pressure.

The road where the sinkhole emerged on Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road leads from PIDC Chowk to Clifton in the red zone of Karachi.

According to the traffic police, a barrier has been put up around the sinkhole to avoid any possible accident.

This is not the first time that such a sinkhole has emerged at the Ziauddin Ahmed Road, as the problem continues from time to time because the sewerage line has not been replaced since the British left after the country's independence. 

As a result, whenever the sewage line gets damaged at one point, the staff of the Water Sewerage Board repairs that part only. But afterwards,  the same situation arises at another point and the cyclical problem continues.

According to ZMEScience, "a sinkhole has no natural external surface drainage – when it rains, all the water stays inside the sinkhole and typically drains into the subsurface, dissolving away at the surrounding rock."