Karachi : Under the Karachi Water & Sewerage Services Improvement Project (KWSSIP), a pilot initiative began over a year ago to rehabilitate water and sewerage systems in some of the city’s most underserved areas, including Essa Nagri, Soba Nagar, Welfare Colony, and Goharabad. The project, undertaken in collaboration with National Engineering Services Pakistan (NESPAK) for infrastructure work and the National Rural Support Programme (NRSP) for community engagement, promised not only to lay down pipelines and construct water tanks, but to deliver dignity, transparency, and participatory development to Karachi’s katchi abadis.
A vital element of this initiative was the establishment of a Grievance Redressal Mechanism (GRM), designed to provide local residents with a structured platform to raise their complaints, share their concerns, and offer suggestions related to ongoing construction and development. At its core, the GRM was intended to ensure that community voices were not only heard but acted upon—a safeguard for accountability in public welfare.
However, despite the potential of this mechanism, its implementation fell drastically short. In April 2025, NRSP installed ten complaint boxes across the four selected communities—three each in Essa Nagri and Soba Nagar, and two each in Welfare Colony and Goharabad. But what could have served as a symbol of citizen empowerment quickly turned into an emblem of neglect and mismanagement.
The very placement of the boxes was the first indication that something was amiss. Community members say the locations were chosen without any local consultation. The boxes were installed in low-visibility spots—corners with minimal foot traffic, areas unfamiliar or inaccessible to many, especially women, the elderly, and persons with disabilities. The physical design of the boxes did not help either. Small, transparent, and bland, they failed to capture attention or inspire public confidence. The community saw them, but they did not feel ownership or trust.
More critically, the mechanism was introduced without any formally documented GRM policy in place. There was no operational framework, no procedural manual, no signed agreement between KWSSIP and NRSP on how the system would work. Without a roadmap, the implementation was reduced to a matter of individual discretion—an ad-hoc effort with no institutional backing. There was no orientation for residents, no clear method to register complaints, no communication on how responses would be ensured. It was a mechanism in name only.
As a result, the complaint boxes remained largely empty—not because grievances didn’t exist, but because people did not know what the boxes were for, or whether anyone would care. In truth, their silence wasn’t passive; it was helpless. In Essa Nagri, complaints mounted informally. Residents spoke of trenches dug and never refilled, mismatched pipe sizes affecting flow, open manholes, construction debris blocking doorways, broken gas and water lines, and damage to private property without any compensation. Stories circulated about political interference and bribes to alter project plans in favor of the influential.
In Welfare Colony, Soba Nagar, and Goharabad, the situation was no better. Poor construction standards, faulty sewerage routes, and destruction of household infrastructure dominated community discussions. But the GRM—the very system designed to receive these complaints—remained non-functional. No follow-ups, no acknowledgment, no resolution. The boxes, like the promises, sat idle.
The breakdown worsened when, on May 31, 2025—just two months after the GRM was initiated—the NRSP staff responsible for managing the complaints concluded their contracts. No transition plan was in…