A city that was once venerated as the ‘Paris of Asia’ has now been ranked fourth among the least liveable cities of the world by the Economist Intelligence Unit in the Global Liveability Report 2017
The failure in embracing diversity was to result in ethnic clashes, targeted killings and several political riots in the future, but the immediate effect which did not require further cooking under a dictator’s regime was the formation of slums.
The results of the 2017 census of Pakistan, like the process of enumeration itself, have invited criticism and concerns. The latest attack on the process was committed when opposition parties, including Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) described the preliminary results of the census as “rigged” data. The party chief Dr Farooq Sattar stated that the figure for Karachi’s population had been manipulated and downplayed to 14.9 million which could not be, in any possible way, less than 30 million. The reason why this allegation cannot be swept under the carpet is the undeniable consequence that the province of Sindh, in general, and the city of Karachi, in particular, might have to face in terms of a minimised portion of financial awards and other quotas. The reason why this assertion cannot be turned a blind eye to is because of the fallouts of all governmental policies devised in the past seven decades of which Karachi is bearing the brunt to date in the form of the all-famous garbage menace and much more.
A city that was once venerated as the ‘Paris of Asia’ has now been ranked fourth among the least liveable cities of the world by the Economist Intelligence Unit in the Global Liveability Report 2017. A city, the roads and streets of which were regularly cleaned with water in 1930s and even till the early 1960s, is now incapable of providing access to safe and clean drinking water to approximately 70 percent of its denizens. A city that was once dubbed as the ‘City of Lights’ because of being a hub of business opportunities is now more profoundly identified by its piles of garbage, clogged drains, dilapidated and flooded roads, urban blight, street crime and targeted killings. A city that had its garbage collection and disposal mechanism and intriguingly complex sewerage system designed by the British has now become incapable of coping with the 13,000 tonnes of waste produced on daily basis, a figure that is soon to hike up to 16,000 tonnes by 2020 as estimated by Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB). A city, whose beaches were once the most pristine in the region and where littering was once strictly prohibited and worth being fined for, is now known for its water bodies being the sites of disposal of domestic waste and industrial effluents.
The origin of the several enumerated problems can be indubitably and conclusively linked with the increase in population of the city. The same Karachi that was accredited as one of the cleanest cities in India when it was a home to 0.3 million is now on the verge of becoming a massive kachra kundi as a whole with an unofficial population of approximately 30 million. A hundred times increase in the population cannot be ruled out as a major contributing factor in the manifold spiking of the metropolis’ problems.
Being an epicentre of business activities as a direct consequence of rapid industrialisation and the lucrative facilities thus made available in a city is always an unmistaken invitation for those belonging to far-off rural areas to immigrate and settle in the land of opportunities. The city itself is not at all reluctant to bear the drastic influx as the running of industries demands labour. Hence, Karachi followed the same trend as any capitalist city and welcomed people from interior Sindh, Balochistan, southern Punjab and, majorly, NWFP (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa). Immediate housing was impossible to be provided, the consequence of which emerged as unregulated settlements all over the city. Similar features were observed when the Mohajirs from India post-1947, Biharis and Bengalis from Bangladesh after the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971 and Afghan migrants in the 1980s chose Karachi as their destination. The diversified melting pot also houses Siddis (descendants of African slaves) and Asian refugees from Uganda along with many others. The failure in embracing diversity was to result in ethnic clashes, targeted killings and several political riots in the future, but the immediate effect which did not require further cooking under a dictator’s regime was the formation of slums. Providing these areas with water and electricity worsened the problem as it encouraged the formation of many other such settlements. Congestion was an inevitable outcome and so was the criminal negligence owing to the many ethnic groups and their political representatives being incessantly engaged in clashes, an environmentally disastrous feature of which is setting garbage and tyres on fire.
With a transient relief provided in Musharraf’s regime in terms of timely completion of regulated and well-planned infrastructure development and cleaning projects, the city is yet again characterised by huge garbage dumps, overflowing gutters and prolonged traffic jams as three of the many salient features.
The municipal mishap that occurs every single time it rains, not necessarily cats and dogs, in Karachi in the form of sewage water entering homes, schools, mosques and churches is nothing but a deplorable state of affairs. Clogged drains, broken roads and worsening of their conditions post-downpour despite the allocation of Rs274 billion, as of 2107-18, for infrastructure development all across Sindh is a direct vindication of the degree of corruption that exists in government expenditure. Ill-planned crossings and U-turns at flyovers and roads is yet another discounted dilemma that is causing deaths of many in traffic accidents on daily basis.
Yes, one has no control over heavy rains and storms and nothing can be really done when precipitation exceeds the set patterns according to which the drainage and sanitation systems of city have been designed, but the sight of plastic bags clogging the drains and heaps of garbage floating on flooded roads could have surely been avoided had this and previous governments been a bit vigilant. Hurricane Harvey is the most relevant example in this case owing to the overlapping of occurrence. Having received 26.03 inches of rain on Tuesday alone, much of Texas and almost all of Houston has been flooded. The system was bound to collapse, yet nowhere is garbage seen to be floating along with people and adding to their misery.
It was the government’s job for which the renowned business tycoon Malik Riaz has signed up. The state could have used the very same resources which he is to provide single-handedly, viz. money, manpower and machinery. The ‘Clean Karachi’ operation is, therefore, not an accomplishment but a slap across the government’s face which has miserably failed in generously spending Rs10 billion from the several billions they originally receive to spend on people but end up using in increasing the worth of their bank accounts.
The irrevocably entwined wires dangling from electricity poles and unavailability of protective equipment for sanitary and electricity workers additionally results in fatal casualties all year round, especially in monsoon season. While the government can be blamed for the aforementioned and rotting party flags swaying on poles since forever that further ‘beautify’ Karachi, paan stains and defacing graffiti, that advertise anything and everything, are pitched in by residents of the city themselves. Here comes the widely supported and banal point of creating awareness and imparting education to the masses, but the trite solution is, perhaps, the only solution left in given scenario.
Putting the blame on each other’s shoulders is as old a trend as identifying problems without proposing solutions. The solutions in this case, like the problems, are obvious. Revisiting policies, spending most if not all of the received funds on people and cities before making any attempt to ask for more, and educating people to realise their responsibilities as citizens are the keys. People lay the blame on the provincial government which in turn holds the centre liable for people’s miseries. However, amidst all the amalgam of uncertainties and certainties that exist, one statement can be applied here with cent percent surety: it is a ‘tragedy of the commons’, Karachi being the common resource and its permanent devastation, the possible tragedy.