Just beside a huge pile of plastic bags, rotten food, domestic garbage, syringes, hospital waste and animal offal, some men with their faces covered were unloading more garbage from a truck, further adding to the heap. Smoke-emitting toxic industrial effluent was flowing out a large drain next to the garbage, making its way into the sea. In many countries, seashores are beautiful, recreational places, but in Karachi, the coastline between the fisherfolk settlement of Ibrahim Hyderi and Rehri Goth is a dumping ground. Not only is the solid waste from the factories located in the Korangi Industrial Area and poultry farms dumped at the coast, but toxic liquid material including that produced by tanneries is also released into the Arabian Sea without any treatment.
The residents say that the coastal area was once a sight worth watching; lush green clusters of mangroves, wandering camels and fishermen having an abundant catch. “There was a time when you threw a coin in the sea, you could see it clearly as the water was crystal clear, but now the garbage and chemicals have made it dirty,” says an elderly fisherman of the Ibrahim Hyderi area. Not only factory owners, but the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) also disposes of garbage from several towns on the coast on a regular basis. Sometimes, CDGK employees set the garbage on fire and clouds of smoke hover above the coast. Some land grabbers deliberately dump garbage at the beach so that they can go on to acquire the land.
For the residents of seven coastal villages with a population of around 300,000, garbage dumping for reclamation of land has emerged a major problem. Many residents have protested several times, but no one has heard their plea..The Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, which led the campaign to protect mangroves along the 129-km long coast of the city, says that it has taken up the issue several times by writing letters to higher authorities, organising workshops and finding solutions together with the civil society, environmental institutions and the relevant government authorities, but efforts go in vain.
