- Cooperation rather than point scoring is the answer
In early August Federal Minister Ali Zaidi launched “Let’s Clean Karachi” drive, pledging to bring the city waste down to zero with the help 1,500 PTI volunteers and FWO. One month later the city is not only as unclean as before but is also infested with mosquitos and flies while there is a rise in ailments and diseases that include malaria, gastroenteritis, typhoid, dengue fever, the chikungunya virus and respiratory disorders.
With Ali Zaidi posing as Karachi’s savior, a perception was created that the real aim behind the drive was to blame the PPP that rules the province and MQM’s Karachi Mayor for the city’s problems. What has happened during the last one month is mutual recrimination on the part of the city’s three champions. Recently a video competition has been initiated by the rivals for point scoring. Karachi meanwhile remains as unclean as ever. A write up in the New York Times on Thursday titled “A Plague of Flies Descends on Karachi: They’re Hounding People” illustrates the seriousness of the situation in the largest city of the country.
Karachi’s civic problems have complicated over decades of neglect. As the city’s population multiplied, a number of unplanned housing colonies were constructed in low lying areas where rain water accumulates. Tens of thousands of encroachers have built habitations along the city’s drains. The city’s management is complex and fragmented. Waste management and municipal services are dealt with by different agencies. The insignificant number of waste disposal trucks available to the city can carry only a small fraction of over 13,000 tonnes of garbage. The two landfills, in fact dumping grounds, available for the disposal of the waste are insufficient.
There is a need to treat the issue as a matter of national emergency. Representatives of the federal and Sindh governments and Karachi city administration need to sit together to jointly prepare a feasible plan for the disposal of garbage and proper maintenance of drains. What is more, they should pool their resources and work together. In 2003 the PML-N’s federal government and PPP’s Sindh government worked together to put an end to lawlessness in Karachi and succeeded. Why can’t PTI, PPP and MQM similarly join hands now?
