As the National Disaster Management Authority steps in to clean Karachi’s storm drains, the humiliating picture of the city’s collapsing and depleted infrastructure has surfaced. There is no secret in the fact that years of misrule, corruption and neglect has left Karachi in ruins, and the condition in which the megacity now lies is synonymous with a state of man-made disaster.
As NDMA personnel in collaboration with FWO embarked towards cleaning the Gujjar Nullah, one of leading stormwater drains in the city, the sight of tones of sludge blocking the free flow of water was despicable to say the least. Such blockage has attributed to horrendous urban flooding and standing water stagnation that invites mosquitoes, filth and obstruction in the movement of citizens. The federal government has stepped in to clean the drains in Karachi, and such an urgency to provide relief to the inhabitants of the city from this misery is worth applauding. As the country’s largest city is in doldrums due to a barely functioning local government, this ad hoc move is a viable way forward.
Karachi has constantly been used as a political playground due to which the water, sewage and solid waste management departments have malfunctioned to such as extent that they largely remain inactive in using whatever power remains with them. At the end of the day, whether it is the Sindh government or the Centre stepping in to unveil grandiose foreign-funded civic projects to mend the depleting physical infrastructure of Karachi, all these attempts will fail unless the local government is empowered and fulfils its constitutional duty to clean and maintain the city of Karachi.
Hadia Mukhtar
Karachi
Published in The Express Tribune, August 6th, 2020.
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