Stench engulfing Karachi leaves experts baffled

Experts cite decomposition of waste due to extremely hot weather or change in direction of wind as reasons for stench

KARACHI: A foul smell that engulfed various parts of Karachi for the past few days has left the Pakistan Meteorological Department and the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency baffled as they have no clue as to why and from where the stench is emanating.

Citizens from DHA, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Mehmoodabad and PAF Falcon are perplexed by the stench.

However, environmentalists cite decomposition of waste due to the extremely hot weather or change in the direction of the wind as the reasons behind the disgusting odour. They cannot for sure pinpoint the exact reason for the stench.



Talking to The Express Tribune, senior environmentalist Professor Dr Zafar Iqbal Shams said, “The high-level of humidity arising from warm temperatures in the city has decomposed organic waste, which is creating the smell.”

Disclosing that the situation has left him and other environmentalists clueless since it had hardly ever happened in the past, Shams said, “What we have understood so far is that in the process of decomposition of organic waste, which includes all types of food items, animal bodies or waste, gases like hydrogen sulphide mix in the atmosphere to create a very foul odor.”



Talking about the change in the direction of the wind, Shams said now the winds are blowing from the east for the past couple of days. Rehri Goth bay, lying in the east in Ibrahim Hyderi, is an illegal garbage dumping point where tons of garbage is dumped and burnt in the sea. Perhaps with the flow of wind it is entering the city carrying the smell of sewage in the Malir River with it.

Shams urged the authorities to take strict notice against garbage dumping and the government to take climate change very seriously.