Clifton residents cry foul over high-rise boom

The protesters said Clifton, despite being one of Karachi's posh residential neighbourhoods, lacked an effective sewerage system, while roads were in disrepair and garbage collection remained woefully inadequate. Piles of refuse littered several streets, while even moderate rainfall left parts of the neighbourhood submerged under several feet of water.

In some streets, sewage water continued to stagnate, residents said, even as new high-rises kept coming up without any apparent effort to address the area's existing infrastructure deficit. They questioned the logic of allowing towering structures when the neighbourhood's basic utilities were already stretched thin.

Round-the-clock construction activity, the creeping commercialisation of residential streets and the proliferation of padel courts, they warned, were adding to the pressure on an already strained urban infrastructure. Nehr-e-Khayyam was another major concern for the protesters, who described the waterway as vital for rainwater drainage and maintaining the area's environmental balance.

They feared that alleged encroachments, construction along its banks and expanding commercial activity could compromise its original character and undermine its drainage capacity. Calling for an independent technical assessment of ongoing work around the waterway, residents demanded that its boundaries be protected from encroachments and unnecessary construction.

Pointing out that Clifton also hosts diplomatic missions of several countries, residents said the alleged illegal constructions and deteriorating civic conditions had raised serious questions about the performance of the relevant authorities.