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KU hit hard by storm
Karachi, June 27(The News): The monsoon rains preceded by heavy winds and thunderstorms in the city has
wreaked havoc everywhere. The University of Karachi (KU) is also receiving its
fair share of the gutsy winds, incessant rains, and ensuing damage. Due to the
rough weather, more than 45 huge trees fell on the electric wires, cutting the
power supply that eventually affected the water supply to the staff town and the
departments. The water supply has been restored to some parts of the staff town,
however the university engineers are still trying to fix the problem in its
entirety.
The university is dotted with thick plantation that spreads
across the entire length and breadth of the campus. There are huge trees planted
alongside the power supply lines. The severity of the storm uprooted the trees
at various places, which landed on the electric wires thus suspending the power
supply. The campus was found unprepared for such calamity and the university's
Engineering Department with its antique equipment and absence of crisis
management, utterly failed to rise to the occasion. The Garden Department had no
electric chainsaw to cut the fallen trees into pieces or tractors for that
matter, to drag them out of the way. The power was available in the KU
sub-station, but it could not be supplied to the university as the Engineering
Department failed to re-erect the power lines within three days of the
mishap.
Prof. Pirzada Qasim, Vice Chancellor (VC) of the university said
that his people were doing 'alright,' as it was a calamity of huge proportions.
Besides they could not do much, as they did not have the proper equipment. "We
all are coordinating and working with each other to bring back normalcy on
campus. The VC's house is also without electricity and it will be restored after
other parts of the staff town get their power supply," Prof. Qasim said
emphatically. According to him, water has been supplied to D, E, and F types of
homes and the engineers were trying to supply water to C, B, and A type homes.
The VC has constituted a 'Crisis Management Committee' to deal with wind and
rainstorm situations. Dr Muhammad Qaiser is the convener of the
committee.
A professor of the university expressed his resentment at the
abject failure of the university administration to restore water and power
supply to the staff town. He accused the Engineering Department of gross
negligence and inability to perform their task in a proper manner and on right
time. According to the Professor, the department had requested the university to
hire some contractors to do the job of cleaning the mess and for reinstallation
of electric lines. The department has been using a low strength generator to
pump water to the upper-head tanks (as there are no underground tanks in KU
homes) in the university homes, but that also got burnt and so, they had to
borrow a 350 KW generator for the purpose, which however, failed to work. The
engineers are of the opinion that at least one week is required to restore the
complete supply of water and power.
Adel Ahmed, the university engineer,
and Sohail, the electrical engineer said that they were working round the clock
to bring some semblance of normality but outdated equipment and lack of manpower
was hampering their effort. Sohail said that to supply water and power to 350
homes was not an easy task but now, they had purchased a standby generator to
pump water in the absence of regular power supply, to prevent the same situation
from happening.
Dr Abid Hasnain, General Secretary, Karachi University
Teachers Society (KUTS) disapproved the university's official view of the
situation. "The University has to stop the culture of 'adhocism' to run the
university smoothly. Non-professionals are appointed who utterly fail when
emergency situation crops up. Despite the fact that the KU substation has power,
it could not be supplied to the staff town because non-committed people are
handling the situation," he said without mincing words. He added that the newly
constituted Crisis Management Committee had many professors who were already
working on different committees. One of these professors was not working with
university now but resided in the staff town.
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| Education News | | Updated: 25 May, 2012 |
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