KARACHI: Against the backdrop of the death of a child who fell in an uncovered gutter in Memon Goth on Aug 14, the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation has started producing manhole covers and ring slabs to be distributed among city`s 246 union committees free of cost.

This was announced by Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab during a visit to the waterutility`s manhole covers manufacturing unit on Friday. He said that 150 manhole covers each would be given to all UCs across the city without discrimination.

He said that the manhole covers in several parts of the city were either stolen or broken with mischief posing dangers to life and property of the citizens.

He said that the KWSC had come up with a solution to the problem by producing manhole covers and manhole ring slabs itself. `Earlier, a manhole cover which weighed 10 to 12 kg was available for Rs3,500 in the market, while the same will be ready here for Rs2,700 and its weight will be 35 kg,` he added.

Deputy Mayor Salman Abdullah Murad, KWSC chief executive officer Syed Salahuddin, COO Asadullah Khan and other offic-ers were also present.

Mr Salahuddin told Dawn that over 20,000 manholes were without covers across the city.

He said that most of the manholes were broken due to poor quality of the material used in the preparation, while many others were stolen by drug addicts to retrieve steel for buying drugs as they were lighter in weight and easy to take away.

KWSC chief said that 75 manhole covers each would be given to 246 UCs across the city in the first phase as over 3,500 covers were ready. `The factory will continue to produce manhole covers to meet the city`s requirement,` he added.

He said that the water utility had started work on the factory one and half months ago on the instruction of mayor.