A City of Two Summers

Second summer during the months of September October is a known phenomenon in Karachi. That’s why in the third week of September when the entire country is in the grip of heavy rainfall the residents of the city are confronted with sizzling 41 degree centigrade. 

Last year the daytime temperature in Karachi during September also crossed 40 degree Celsius and Pakistan Metrological Department (PMD) issued a five-day heat wave warning due to low pressure in Arabian Sea off the Indian Coast which lessened the sea breeze along the Pakistan coast line. This year the sea breeze again stopped blowing under the influence of a low air pressure formed in the Bay of Bengal.

Due to the changing in weather patterns the monsoon season has passed away this year in Karachi without rainfall. The 2018 was already recorded as the hottest year not only in Karachi and Pakistan but worldwide. However, the consequences of that can be traced more visibly in the megacity of more than 20 million inhabitants. During the first two weeks of September there used to be some good rains in Karachi and thereafter the monsoon completely withdrew from city. However, this year because of without rain the weather has remained largely sunny, drier and with higher humidity, making living, specially outdoor activities, difficult here.

Karachi has long been witnessing its driest monsoon spell since the last two decades with zero millimeters of precipitation recorded by the PMD. The monsoon season in the provincial capital starts from July and lasts till the middle of September and yet no significant rainfall has been recorded till now at the end of the season and prospects of rainfall in October are also very less.

Many consider Karachi as a city of two summers. Pre monsoon summer of April-May and post monsoon summer of September-October. As official data suggests the highest temperature recorded in the city in the month of September was 42.8 degree Celsius recorded on the 30^th in 1951.

To control the changes in weather in pattern is a long-time issue and it’s not in the capacity of local or provincial governments. The city needs specific methodology. It’s time to develop a special climate commission for Karachi with specialists of environment, weather, water and horticulture who devise a strategy to cater the ongoing climatic conditions and shape up a better future. One needs to follow the Government of Punjab which has recently initiated a Punjab Clean Air Commission in Lahore and other cities to specifically control pollution and vagaries smog.

Through Punjab Clean Air Commission, various committees have been established at town and district levels for monitoring of measures to control environment pollution. The committees also monitor that the brick kilns remain closed as per court’ orders, ban on crops burning must be followed and a people-friendly strategy for the closure of two-stroke engines, motorcycle rickshaws and smoke emitting vehicles would be sought.

Karachi really needs this kind of strategy, otherwise we are not going to see rain and feel coolness anywhere in the city.

   

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Islamabad; Enemy of its Own Environs

It seems the only enemy left before Islamabad now is it’s own green cover, as the capital doesn’t want to give any space for trees and greenery in its limitation. Either chopped down on the name of development or set to fire by unknown people, flora of any kind really has no future in Islamabad. The result is obvious. For continuous three weeks in May 2018, Islamabad soared above 40 degrees when outdoor mobility got extremely difficult. That led the Met Office DG Dr Ghulam Rasul to believe the prolonged heat spell without any rainfall was unusual for Islamabad.

Since the last couple of years, incidents of chopping down trees have been a routine phenomenon of the capital environment woes. Some 750 fully grown and decades-old trees, 3800 small trees along with several shurbs were cut down during the construction of Metro Bus project in 2015. Then same year in July more than 300 trees of mulberry, pear and other fruits rooted out gain for the expansion of Islamabad Expressway.

In May 2017 according to NESPAK around a thousand trees of upto 100 years became prey to Metro Bus Service extension from Peshawar Morr to connect the city from the New Islamabad International Airport.  In October last year the CDA cut down around 250 trees at Embassy Road for the expansion of vehicular traffic movement. Earlier unaccounted trees were also chopped along the Attaturk Road only to further lanes. On the other hand, Ahsan Iqbal briefed in Senate this year that thousands of paper mulberry trees are yet be rooted out from Islamabad because these trees are causing health problems.

Beside untapped cutting of trees in capital the fire incidents at Margalla Hills National Park is a routine exercise since a half decade. The site is an expensive tract at the foothills of the greater Himalayas, alongside Shakarparian Park and Rawal Lake. Established in 1980, the Park covers 67.13 square miles and rich in biodiversity of fauna and flora.

Only in the month of May in 2016 eight wildfires were reported while in April next year over three acres of forest was burnt in a single fire incident. This year on 31^st March fire broke out behind Daman e Koh of the Margala Hills and ruined three to four acres of land in a single day. Then four incidents held in April reducing hundreds of acres of pristine land and flora to cinders.    

Then in May two different fires broke out behind Saidpur Village and Daman e Koh point and spread over ten to twelve acres. Since the first week of June a wildfire has been raging and turned uncountable trees into ashes. This is recorded as the worst fire incident which has affected more than six hectares of land. Most of trees were of pine which take decades to get developed and fully grown.

Usually these incidents occur between April 15 and July 15 when temperature is high. However, it is widely believed these trees are deliberately torched every year by timber mafia and hunters.  First the trees are cut and then the area is torched to cover up the crime.

Does the city really needs any more enemy?

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Advertising Walls for "Defense Purpose". Lol.

We are living in a consumer world, where pricing rules over principles. When walls of Karachi’ most important Christians’ graveyard are rented out to use for advertising Muslims’ TV Ramzan shows, perhaps it says everything about justifying absurdity of billboards and outdoor publicity.

But the most driveling justification for these outdoor publicity walls came from the horses’ mouth. The CEO of Karachi Cantonment Board says before apex court that these “walls were built for defence purpose”. One wonders for defence purpose trenches can be dug around garrison areas but constructing walls have no purpose. On the other hand, the former PPP-led government dug the city on the name of development in a way that even Pakistan’ worst enemy would think it worthless to land in the city.

Second, does a nuclear power really needs concrete walls for defence? If yes, then without delay even bigger advertising walls must be built across the country. Forget fencing at borders build concrete walls and advertise any cooking oil or telecom product to save country rom evil’s eye. Forget armed personals and hire good copywriters who could write or develop tempting campaigns for markets.   

The CEO of Karachi Cantonment actually didn’t clarify what does he mean from “defense purpose”. Neither he had idea about what he had to defend before apex court. One can guess he meant to defend the consumer base. No body wants to lose customers in a megacity. Karachi really is a competitive market where only the fittest can survive. The Cantonments and Defence Authorities are really the fittest party and they don’t need to hide behind walls.

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7 Household Products that Harm Environment

10 Ramazan Delights

Karachi’s (re)calling Dr. Ishrat ul Ebad

On Sunday April 22, almost entire Karachi suffered 10-hour load shedding, which was unscheduled and unexpected. Next day Prime Minister Khaqan Abbasi arrived in Karachi, held meeting with KESC and SSGC officials but came out without any concrete solution. Though, the PM assured Karachites the issue of electricity would resolve in 15 days and directed the SSGC to resume required gas supply to KESC, besides forming a committee headed under Muftah Ismail to settle the issue of outstanding dues between KESC and SSGC. The fact is nothing was resolved and power crisis exists till this date in scorching weather.   

Earlier last month when milk crisis appeared in metropolis, all the city admins including Commissioner Karachi and KMC were unable to tame milk farmers, who increased milk prices at will and nobody had a clue how to deal with the situation. The result is local consumers are bound to purchase milk on inflated rates.

The Karachites, therefore, really have a sense of deprivation and complain lack of representation in provincial and federal set-ups, and specially in decision making related to Karachi. The cabinets of provincial governments in 2008 and 2013 hardly had any legislative member elected from Karachi. However, the sense of deprivation accelerated with the departure of the last representative of Karachi from decisional set-up some 15 months ago. Though Governorship is a ceremonial post but the fact is, due to the rural-urban dynamics of Sindh, the slot of Governorship has been traditionally filled through any citizen of Karachi. The most populated and biggest city of Pakistan was represented in national or provincial set-up via Sindh Governor and its residents have been relying on the channel of Governorship to address their problems and get them solved.

Thanks to law enforcement agencies, the crime rate has declined and security situation is improved in the city. In spite a representational vacuum still persists which depicts the shallowness of the society. It is hard to digest but the truth is Karachi is in state of inertia since few years. A series of socio-civic and administrative problems are haunting the city. And, more than one and half dozen civic bodies are blaming each other for these crises instead of devising to resolve something. Water’ scarcity and contamination, sanitation overflow and encroached drains, gross solid waste mismanagement, transport and traffic jams, unchecked migration and rising of unregularized Goths, as well as health and environmental devastation on the name of development projects in the city, the list goes on and on. No system and developmental mechanism exists, so the result is, half of the city is dug-up, green cover is vanished and hospitals are over-capacitated. A chaos is rampant in the city, which seems aimless and endless.

Now who is to blame and come out to solve these issues at present. Provincial Government and district metropolitan corporations are not at speaking terms with each other. On the other hand Sindh Government blames federal government for delaying funds in development projects. The CM walked out from National Economic Council meeting citing reservations on development programs. Pace of federal government projects like K-IV and Rapid Mass Transit System is slow and complains of lack of cooperation from local and provincial authorities have been surfaced. The KCR has been shelved once again because of conflicts between provincial and federal government and one doubts the project would never see the daylight. Cantonment areas and DMCs have administrative heads from diverse political groups, who have little care for their subjects and involved in pity issues. Most importantly all these civic agencies lack cooperation and coordination because of which aimless schemes of basic amenities are at halt or in chaotic conditions.  And, there is no one who can advocate Karachi.   

Although, all these things don’t come in the domain of Sindh Governorship, but very fewer former Governors like Dr. Ishrat ul Ebad was such man, who was capable to coordinate things in diversities. He did command respect in all civic bodies, kept pace up with everyone, resolve dispute among institutions and on him all the social communities of the metropolis like businessmen, traders, shopkeepers, religious scholars, NGOs, legislative and administrative bodies trusted and complied to him. In reality, the dynamics of the megacity is different from other cities of Pakistan and can be best addressed only by a representative, belonged to this city.  Very few deny, that if Dr. Ishrat ul Ebad were still the Governor of Sindh, not only the present power crisis or milk problem would have been better addressed but to a certain extent resolved too in the interest of public. He really mastered in resolving such emergencies.

Dr. Ishrat served more than 14 years as Governor of Sindh, the longest serving Governor of Pakistan. His era has arguably been a constructive era for Karachi, when residents here used to feel some sort of sense of representation in decisional set-up. Dr. Ishrat also had some better qualities to lead.  Managing a megacity is not an easy job. There are ethnic communities, religious groups, trader associations, political parties, business tycoons, educationists, NGOs. But he had the capability to console and craft a win-win situation for everyone. Hardly anyone came back dissatisfied after meeting with him.   

No doubt, the present Governor Muhammad Zubair is also a very dedicated and nice person. But he has hardly succeeded in resolving crisis between political governments and among civil institutions in emergency situations. Though it is questionable why Governor House in Sindh today serves as a political drawing room which showcases peoples are joining his party PML(N) and taking oath from party president. That didn’t happen during the tenure of Dr. Ebad or even any other Pakistani Governor era. Yet, Muhammad Zubair is working hard and has proved to be a good person. But is he good enough for Karachi, one reserves his comments.

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Karachi’ Storm Water Drains

How Karachi can benefit from Moringa Tree

Around the world, big cities are to face bigger urban challenges in terms of health, food and security, by keeping their environment and recreation sustainable. Karachi is no exception. The air and atmosphere of the megacity is polluted, water and agriculture are contaminated and the traffic mismanagement is at alarming level where carbon emissions have densely affected the urban sphere.

Haphazard constructions in the last ten to fifteen years have further destroyed the environment due to deforestation. Approximately a hundred thousand trees have been chopped down only at Sharah e Faisal, University Road and construction of Green Line Bus Rapid Line during the last year. That bleak scenario now demands from Karachi’ authorities including Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and all Cantonment Boards to go for afforestation drives and increase the green cover of the city.  

The “Miracle Tree” Moringa can play a beneficial and healthy role in this regard. The tree has enormous horticultural, medicinal as well as commercial benefits, which can transform the Karachi city. It is an efficient, affordable, easy and accessible solution against malnutrition. Besides taking up it as nourishing vegetable, the leaves, pulp and seeds of Moringa, it’s powder and other numerous products including cooking oil all are valuable solutions under one roof.  

More importantly Moringa suits and well fits on Karachi’ present needs and demands. It needs little water and horticultural maintenance. Moringa is an indigenous specie, much-needed in the city’ landscape to purify the atmosphere. Although, the urban forestry of Karachi is comprised of some important indigenous trees like Banyan, Peepal, Neem, Lignum and etc. But it is irony the city has more environment-unfriendly trees like Eucalyptus and Conocorpus which alien species, planted by civic administration in the last three decades as roadside plantation, in green belts and even in public parks. Karachi, as a matter of fact, needs green cover of indigenous trees and Moringa can lessen the unfriendly impacts of alien species.

 A civic drive to introduce and induct Moringa can be a good addition on city horticultural landscape. However, because of lack of space for cultivation in the city, Moringa should be inducted wisely in Karachi. The city administration can develop Moringa forests in the outskirts of the city, which will play a significant and healthy role in the betterment of city troposphere, important for raising chances of rainfall as well as deterring the heat island effects in Karachi. Here, these forests can also be used as urban agriculture from which the local government can earn a sizable revenue.

The KMC can run an awareness and free distribution campaign of Moringa revealing the benefits of tree and give free plants to people to grow it in their houses or do rooftop plantation that will not only increase the green cover of the city but also maintain a cooling atmosphere, affected by pollution and green house effect. In public parks good amount of Moringa can be planted to make recreational places green and healthy.

Hope, the KMC and Cantonments are going through these lines.

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Disposal Hospital waste in Karachi

Goth and Katchi Abadis in Karachi

Milk Karachi org

Pak Environ Index 2018 0rg

Karachi Water woes

Forest Pakistan -- Significance, Situation & Initiatives

Water Conservation in Metropolitan & Launching The Farozaan Area Water Partnership Karachi

Pakistan Water Partnership is a part of Global Water Partnership Program and volunteering this partnership to provincial and district levels, the launching ceremony of the Farozaan Area Water Partnership Karachi was held on March 3, 2018 at Sindh Social Welfare Training Institute Karachi.

The head of Pakistan Water Partnership Sardar Muhamad Tariq presided the ceremony with internationally-famed scholar and expert on water resource management Dr. Pervaiz Amir as the keynote speaker and guest of the evening.

Dr. Pervaiz Amir stressing the need of trees and water in urban cities said that citizens must come up and play their roles to make Karachi sustainable and livable. He said that because of scarcity and contamination of water Karachi is longer livable now. “Even if you (people) want to live without conserving and managing your water resources then you must build a thousand new hospitals for your healthcare because most of the disease you are infected these days are water-borne in Karachi”, he opines. Replying a question from audience Dr. Pervaiz suggested that desalination plants and rain water harvesting could be two alternate and smart solutions in Karachi to meet out water demands rather banking completely upon governmental schemes.

Sardar Muhammad Tariq was of the view that there is no substitute of clean air and pure water on earth, therefore both must be preserved and cared. He emphasized on the increase of water storage capacity in Pakistan. In this regards he reveals “In case of drought our country has only 30-day water storage capacity, compared to India’ 100-day and Australia’ 600-days. While the Egypt has a remarkable storage capacity for more than three years and this art of water management the Egyptians inherited and learned from their old civilization.” He pointed out that if Pakistan has to meet out its agricultural and industrial demands of water, it must bring improvement of up to 40% in it’s current water storage fold.

Sardar Tariq also told the significance of the Sustainable Development Goals and pointed out the plastic pollution and marine pollution as the top negative indictors of the city.       

Earlier renowned environment journalist and the Editor in chief of Farozaan threw light on water crisis in Karachi and signaling out the water theft by tanker mafia termed it the main reason behind water scarcity in the metropolitan. 

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Public littering; Crime that’s charged only in Karachi

Throwing trash in public and open spaces is definitely a criminal offence in Pakistan Panel Code, however the recent decision of the judicial Magistrate to release the citizens in Karachi booked under Section 188 for throwing garbage in open space is really a judicious one.

The Section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Pakistan Panel Code has been here in Pakistan since a long time. But when the Sindh Government through a notification issued on February 26, 2018 on behalf of Home Department specially imposed a ban on dumping household, industrial, commercial or hospital waste in open residential and commercial areas, it cast a dark shadow.  The notification states “In pursuance of Section 195 (i) (a) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the SHO of the police station concerned is hereby authorised to register complaints under Section 188 of Pakistan Panel Code in writing for violation of Section 144 against those who don’t obey these order”.

Like always the Karachi police followed these ragged orders with open arms and began arresting common people across the city. Though it was written in the notification that “Unscrupulous elements in the municipal authorities, contractors of the Solid Waste Management Board (SWMB) and some private citizens are also in the habit of burning these heaps garbage, which is resulting in serious environmental and health hazards”. And, also on February 22, 2018 the SWMB chief Taha Farooqui had himself admitted that “all the garbage being generated by the metropolis was not reaching the landfill sites” and urged the civic agencies to ensure that their waste reaches the required destination. But police arrested only citizens rather any contractors of SWMB or staff of municipal authorities who were and still are overtly involved in burning garbage in public spaces instead of shifting it to garbage stations or landfill sites.  

After the issuance of notification, the Karachi Police without wasting time started taking action and registered cases against citizens. From the very next day in Old city area police arrested two suspects who allegedly threw garbage on a main road and registered FIR against them. Similar actions were taken against a number of citizens for throwing garbage outside homes in Garden, Saudabad and Khawaja Ajmer Nagri areas within days.

However, when two of these culprits were presented before court the judicial Magistrate Asif Raza Mir ordered the release of the accused and quashed cases against them. In his remarks the Magistrate stated when “nothing was ideal in the city in respect of the disposal of garbage, it was strange to arrest people over garbage-throwing”. The Magistrate further and rightly observed that the administration has neither made any arrangement for lifting trash nor provided any proper civic facilities to the citizens that’s why waste was dumped at public places in localities, and it was not fair to arrest citizens in such conditions.

There is no doubt public littering is definitely not acceptable, and many less considerate citizens have a nasty habit of disposing of trash in open spaces in the absence of trash bins in streets and roads. It is an open secret the garbage collection system in the city is overwhelmingly politicised and unsatisfactory. So, most of the people in the city tend to get rid of their household trash by duping it in the nearest kachra kundi. But if this can get them arrested, that seems to have no logic.    

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(Courtesy    Mera Karachi Group for image)

Sindh Food Authority & its lone benefactor Karachi

The Sindh Food Authority is supposed to get active this week from Feb 20, 2017, with Karachi as its first experimental and most lucrative phase. The Authority’ Bill was approved by the Sindh Assembly on March 8, 2017 and with the signature of the Governor Sindh it became the Sindh Food Authority Act on April 8, 2017.

There is no denying the Sindh Food Authority is the need of the hour. If it works impartially and transparently, safe and healthy food would be accessible to an already-deprived common man. As reported in media, the Authority have four various financial penalties at its disposal, which may be termed source of revenues too. The Registration Fee on all vendors from a 5-Star restaurant to push-cart vendor ranging from Rs. 500 to Rs. 50000. The Annual fees on them from Rs. 80 to Rs. 8000.  Penalties ranging from Rs. three lac to five lac if medical of employees are not covered and similar amount of fines for serving sub-standard food.

Overviewing the domain of these penalties, it seems that the Authority’ main targets are outdoor food-serving vendors. While the kind of edibles and even basic food stuff including vegetables, fruits, dairies, cereals, poultry, meat, etc. are in market hardly anybody satisfies from it. There is a serious need to have a check on their supply and production too, which the Food Authority doesn’t seem to cater. Second, the provincial authority should begin its functioning impartially and across the province even-handedly. But to target only Karachi even in experimental phase, questions the impartiality of the Sindh Food Authority.

The foremost irony is the Sindh Government neither developed its organizational structure nor has its own staff to manage and run functioning of the institution, yet it has only devised penalties and monetary fines which it will start to pocket from this week only in Karachi with the help of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation staff.

The Authority has not established offices and neither have concerned staff at District level. Nor have any Food laboratory at District level, a pre-requisite for Authority. Yet they are starting its operations from Karachi through KMC food inspectors because Karachi have always been a cash cow for all such means and greed.

Even if the Sindh Food Authority is going to begin operations from Karachi it should keep in mind the metropolitan has 6 districts. And, according to the Authority’ Act there must be a food lab in each district of the province, so before begin operations the Authority is required to first establish food labs in each district of Karachi, which is a vast and sizable megacity in terms of distance and population. Currently, Karachi has only a single food lab that too is under the control of KMC rather Sindh Food Authority.

The Authority’ by-laws permit food inspectors to collect registration and annual fees from a push cart or roadside vendor to a 5-Star hotel or lush eatery. It raises a serious question how they can keep a watch on a moveable seller who doesn’t have his own place. Secondly, these push carts and roadside vendors mostly do business occupying roadside encroachments, so after collecting Registration and Renewal fees from them does the Sindh Food Authority are going to regularize these encroachments?  

Therefore, an anti-encroachment drive is must before Authority begin its operations, otherwise we will see more hustle in already congested downtown of the city.

Lastly there is no room in the Authority’ set up for important relevant ministries like Environment, Local Government or Agriculture nor have representation from any Consumer and Civil Society. That insinuates an authoritarian and exploitative intention behind the law makers of this Authority.

Yet, there is no denying a Food Authority is the need of time not only in Karachi but also across the province. Wish all these shortcomings would be overcome soon.  

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Food Festival in Benazir Bhutto Park – An Overt Violation of Law

On May 19, 2017, the Infocus published a post on these pages pointing out at the holding of a commercial festival in Khulfa e Rashdeen Park at 13-D, Gulshan e Iqbal and stated that it was a violation of law by DMC East. While strong apprehensions were also raised in the post that “if this (violation) would (not) become a future trend”. That festival badly ruined the park infrastructure, greenery and serenity at the end of the day so badly that DMC East hasn’t yet recovered that all till this date.

However, above apprehensions seems to be turning into realities. Again, civic rules are being violated and an event of festivity “Karachi Eat Food Festival” is being arranged from January 12 to 14, 2017 in the city’ one of the most prestigious public place the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Park, located in Clifton, DMC South. Previous two editions of the event had also been arranged at Frere Hall alongside Bagh e Jinnah, which attracted massive crowd for fun and food activities, leading the festival to become an annual event. There is no doubt the festival is a popular and successful addition on the metropolitan recreational landscape but holding it in a public park have consequences too.

That’s the reason which has led many concerned bodies including the National Forum for Environment and Health (NFEH) to ask the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) not to allow a central public park to host any food festival. The Forum rightly opined in a press conference that holding such commercial event in pubic park violates the very basic purpose for which the urban open spaces are meant for. “The public parks are like essential public open spaces in a city like Karachi and in no way these spaces should be used to host a commercial activity, which has every potential to damage the very basic components and essentials of a park” it argues.

Parks are important for people, especially the urban communities, to stay fit and sane. Apart from offering recreational pleasure to the city’ dwellers, parks are places where people are kept in touch with nature. That’s the basic and foremost purpose of any park which is prioritized and upheld world over. Any act that disrupts this basic purpose should be discouraged therefore.     

Furthermore the Supreme Court of Pakistan already gave a ruling in 2010 against holding commercial activities in public parks and declared it violation of Article 26 of Constitution of Pakistan. The ruling stated that parks are purpose of providing facilities, charm and temptation to general public in good faith and must not be used for any commercial activity.

It is also important to mention that millions of rupees are spent each year for the maintenance of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Park -- built on 47 acres of land -- but after holding such commercial activities the very essence of park in terms of aesthetic and horticultural aspects will be severely deteriorated and all public spending for maintenance will go in vain. And, in current scenario this probable deterioration would be irreparable because city’ municipal authorities don’t have sufficient funds to repair and renovate the beauty and infrastructure of the park again.

Therefore, the NFEH has solid reason that the food festival has every potential to damage the very basic components and essentials of Park. However, it is also noteworthy that Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Park is no longer in the custody of KMC right now as in May 2017 on the directives of Sindh Local Government, the Karachi Development Authority took over the charge of the park.

Hope sanity prevails in governmental corridors.

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2017; A Civic Review of Karachi

For the 3rd consecutive year Karachi has been named among the top 10 worst cities of the world, that summarises the plight of socio-civics and environment of the city in 2017. The city needed special attention in terms of new administrative order, economic development, local policing, coherency among all civic bodies and environment management to save it from crisis-ridden turmoil but unfortunately all these issues remained absolutely unaddressed in this year.

The Economist Intelligence Unit – the research and analysis division of The Economist Group – in this year’ report has ranked Karachi at 134th in the list of 140 cities. The ranking was devised according to qualitative and quantitative factors where the city was found lagging behind in the categories of stability, healthcare, culture, environment, education and infrastructure.

Throughout the year Karachi remained in a state of civic inertia, as the City Mayor Waseem Akhtar as usually complained his inability to deliver citing lack of required financial and administrative powers while the Sindh Local Government remained busy more in spending the civic and metropolitan funds in latent structures and procurements rather initiating schemes to restructure Karachi as a planned megacity based on sustainable and systematic terms as well as smart developmental footings.     

Climate Change Impacts

The growing impacts of Climate Change also worsened the already fragile environs which ultimately added further miseries into the socio-civic fabric of the city. That is the reason when in April severe heat waves hit the southern Pakistan, Karachi recorded the highest temperature with a sizzling 41.5 degree centigrade. Because of uneven climate changing the city witnessed this year three spell of rainfall. The first in the mid of January which claimed 6 lives and with lowest temperature recorded at 10 Degree Centigrade. The monsoon rainfall flooded the entire city and all municipal and civic bodies including KMC and Cantonments were found incapable to cater that crisis-ridden situation, which claimed 23 lives in a week. Although, the KMC in order to avert this situation had earlier held extensive drive of cleaning storm water drains, specially Nehr Khayyam in March and widening of Gujjar Nallah by removing the alongside encroachments. Despite, it took weeks for KMC to dewatering it from the metropolis. The third spell of rain arrived in the mid of December which was very untimely and unexpected, however that day the city’ temperature fell to 10 degrees yet again.

Health Hazards

During the mid of the year serious Chikungunya virus broke out in Karachi -- especially in the Malir district-- which even compelled the World Health Organisation to send a medical team to control the horrors of outbreak. According to official figure around 4400 people affected by this virus in Sindh out of which more than 3700 resides only in Karachi. It was also disclosed in 2017, that last year the same outbreak claimed 405 lives in the province.

The fragilities of Karachi’ civic conditions further exposed when in a beach tragedy 12 people of a single family drowned at Hawks bay without getting any help from life guards on the spot. Also, 7 people died when a building collapsed in Liaquatabad. Irregular construction of the building can be blamed for these unwarranted deaths, however it is a fact that this irregularity in the shapes of flat-portions and bifurcation on smaller plots still is in regular practice, deliberately unchecked and even regularized by the KDA.        

Judiciary as Savior

However, the 2017 saw the superior judiciary with Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar and other apex courts to act as rescue and savior of the citizens, who has taken up cases of basic amenities particularly in health, water, sanitation and environment sectors. The apex courts constituted a judicial commission to make inspections of negligence in protecting fresh water sources, the environment and marine life. The commission exposed corrupt practices in all water and sanitation schemes besides severe pollution in water resources, absence of sewerage disposals and gross solid waste mismanagement.

Another worrying disclosure made in the court was 90% of water supplied in Karachi is unfit for human consumption due to contamination. It was revealed in a report prepared by Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources after analysis of 118 drinking water samples. In another hearing the apex court directed the Sindh government to work on effluent treatment plants and coordinate with the Federal government in controlling the marine pollution caused by dumping of 460 million gallons of toxic untreated industrial effluent and domestic waste each day in the Arabia sea. The Supreme Court also grilled the Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah and asked him to give a timeframe for the completion of public schemes relating to water and sanitation to the apex court.   

On November 30 the Supreme court in another case also ordered the KDA and KMC for removal of all sorts of encroachments from the amenity plots within a deadline of two months. The order was given when the KDA revealed in a report that 35,000 amenity plots were under encroachments in the city. The anti-encroachment drive is going on across the city.

In another judgement Supreme Court imposed a banned in an order on March 6 on issuance of approvals for high-rise and multi-storeys projects in the city. In compliance to the order the Sindh Building Control Authority issued a notification on May 26, imposing a complete ban on the construction of buildings beyond ground-plus-two-storeys in Karachi region forthwith.

Taking notice against encroachments, another bench headed by Justice Gulzar Ahmed took serious exception to the practice of renting out spaces in public parks and roads by the KMC authorities and in their judgment ordered to remove all encroachments and cabin shops from public parks and amenity plots across the city.

Wastes’ Politics

Despite all this judicial activism, traffic jam, garbage mismanagement and street crimes were rampant and top unresolved civic problems of the city in 2017. The 100-Day Cleanness Drive launched by the City Mayor ended miserably on March 10, 2017 without any success. On the other hand, amending the SLGO 2013 the Sindh Government transferred the responsibility of metropolitan’ solid waste from KMC to Sindh Solid Waste Management Board. The Board then outsourced this job to a Chinese firm Changyi Kangjie Sanitation Engineering Company Limited in the districts of Malir and South, besides importing hundreds of tricycle vehicles, handcarts, other machineries and thousands of garbage bins in the city. These colourful garbage bins can be seen in each district at sixes and sevens. However, these developments haven’t bore fruits and it is witnessed that rather clearing and transferring garbage to the landfill sites, it is dumped in drains, sea or burnt on the spot. In fact, solid waste was the key civic issue in 2017, which remained badly managed and unattended in many cases.  A petition is already in court regarding dissolution of Solid Waste Management Board by Mayor Karachi. 

Commutation Woes

Regular traffic jam has also kept the city environs extremely horrible, hectic and burdensome this year. Despite identifying damaged roads, encroachments, regular sewage fuss, absence of parking spaces, under-construction developments, heavy traffic movement in day time, peak hours rush, regular rise in vehicles and absence of Mass Transit Program as main causes of jamming, it seems the issue will remain unresolved. The Karachi Circular Railway, which had to be begun on Dec 25, as pledged by the CM, has been dumped again despite removing large chunk of encroachments on Circular Railway tracks.

Similarly, the Bus Rapid Transit System was also kicked off with Green Line in December, however it is still under construction and this lane has been extended further from Guru Mandir to Jama Cloth Market, as reported. Other segments of this Federal government project like Blue Line, Yellow Line, Red Line, etc are also either under construction or in pre-construction phase. Important projects of federal government like K-IV and S-III are still in development stages. Though, the M-9 -- Motorway between Karachi and Hyderabad -- was inaugurated by former Prime Minister in February but factually it is incomplete till this date, but motorway toll money has sizably been increased for travelling on M-9 which is still under-construction on BOT basis.   

The Sindh Government also carried out several development projects in the city under Local Government’ Karachi Package, though a number of these schemes were related to revamping, widening and renovating of major roads like Shahra e Faisal and University Road. However, opening of Underpasses like at Drigh Road, Nazimabad Chorangi and flyover at Korangi Crossing are important developments as far as commutation is concerned in Karachi.

Plight of Public Parks

The Jahangir Park was opened for public after renovation by Sindh Government in November. However, situation of other public parks in the city like Bagh e Jinnah, Burns Garden, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Park, Beach Park and almost all community parks across the city are in state of badly deplorable conditions or encroached partially or completely. Controversy, however, raised over Bagh Ibn e Qasim, when in a notification on March 30 Sindh government handed the park’ maintenance over to a private party, which was resisted by the City Mayor and civil society. In the end the KMC won the battle and is working on its restoration and improvement -- though park is shut down for general public.

This tug of war between KMC and Sindh government over metropolis’ civic and municipal issues hasn’t ended yet, in fact it enters in 2018. Administrative heads of both institutions blame each other for ruination of city, which is heading towards unmanageable and unlivable with each passing day because of insincerity of authorities. And, that ruination is continued and still unattended. As an example, when some 5000 full trees were rooted out alongside Super Highway of Karachi region for the construction of M-9, neither the Chief Minister Sindh nor Mayor Karachi voiced against this disaster.       

By

Editorial, Infocus