KARACHI, Dec 14: A large number of marble industries, dyeing shops and tanneries and unauthorized hydrants in Pak Colony, Old Golimar, Asif Colony, Haroonabad and Rexer Colony have been playing havoc with the lives of those residing in these localities.

The careless dumping of waste by these industries led three children to chance upon a deadly chemical on Wednesday and they died after they tasted the deadly chemical.

Moreover, several road accidents have been reported in the past involving water tankers or trucks carrying marble stones.

A seven-year-old boy, Danish, was run over by a water tanker. Nasir Husain Baloch and Shehzad had also been killed by water tankers. A few years ago, a couple were hit by either tankers or trucks carrying raw marble stones.

The story does not end here. The marble units and other factories have converted an entire residential area into a commercial one and they have either been using kunda connections or paying fixed charges to the KESC.

Area residents claimed that the majority of the small factories had illegal power connections. The marble units dump stones in the open in Hasan Aulia area and KMC Gutter Baghicha land where children remain exposed to hazards. The factory-owners use the nearby playground as a dumping site for factory waste and for storage of raw material and in entire area white powdered dust or lime remains littered.

More than a dozen hydrants have also been operating in the area day and night drawing sub-soil water and supplying it to the nearby areas. This water is unfit for human consumption, but there is no check on the supply of it.

The noise pollution created by such units is a nuisance to the residents who have been demanding the shifting of these small factories.

A survey showed that there were more than 300 marble units and marble showrooms on the Main Manghopir Road and in Pak Colony and adjoining areas.

Quarrels among marble unit owners and area people, especially youth, have become a routine as the owners of these units have encroached upon the football ground in the locality where they have dumped marble stones.

The residents demanded the shifting of the illegal units.

They said staff of civic agencies did not take an action against unauthorized dumping of waste, nor had they taken any step to remove the heaps of marble dust.

They also demanded that the illegal hydrants set up in Asif Colony and inside the Mewashah graveyard be removed as they were damaging graves. Owners of illegal hydrants had been raising unauthorized structures inside the graveyard.

Ismail, a resident of the area, said plying of water tankers and trucks in the locality posed a grave threat to schoolchildren. Several children had been killed and injured by tankers and trucks.

In the recent past, a boiler of a dyeing unit exploded due to unsafe equipment handling practices.

Tankers have damaged the Mewashah graveyard road. Potholes have emerged on the road. Motorists get jerks and vehicles get damaged. Those coming to the graveyard for funeral find it difficult to drive and walk on the road.

About power supply, residents said fluctuations had become a routine in the area because of the use of heavy motors and cutters by the marble units whose owners had got sanctioned power connections for domestic water pumps.

Residents also complained about illegal cultivation of vegetables on about 50 plots of 500 acre each on the gutter Baghicha land.

They said at least two bone-crushing units also operated in the area which release a nauseating smell.

Pak Colony was established for labourers, in 1947, at the time of the inauguration of Valika Textile Mills by the Quaid-i-Azam. However, after 1971, a large number of marble units had been established and now the main Manghopir Road has become a major marble market. But what is of special concern to the people that even inside houses on the other side of the road several marble factories are functioning.

Residents demanded urgent action against such industries because of the threat posed by them.