Fencings disappear from city streets

Authorities suspect mafia involvement in increased theft of public property

KARACHI:

In an economy as shaky as today’s, everything is worth something. Even scrap metal that can easily fetch up to Rs25-30 per kilogramme in junk markets.

This realisation appears to have has lured Karachi’s criminals to start nabbing iron rods that line the city’s various greenbelts, highways and overcrossings.

Missing fencings from the city’s busiest areas like Shar-e-Quaideen, University Road, MA Jinnah Extension Road, New Parade Street, Shahra-e-Pakistan, Ibn Sina Road, Sher Shah Soori Road, Sarshah Sulaiman Road and Rashid Minhas Road, have created a public safety hazard for wayfarers.

The public fears that if left unaddressed, these missing fences on highways and footbridges could lead to tragic accidents. The coast city police however, have been rather inert about the whole situation while fences continue to disappear from right under their nose.

The most literal example of this is of the footbridge located adjacent to the Newtown Police Station, that has been completely stripped of iron rods once placed as railing along its steps. In the same area, a greenbelt has lost its entire iron fencing, leaving drivers to use it as a parking spot for their cars.

Similarly, the lack of barriers on the Hassan Square bridge, which goes across one of the city’s busiest highways, presents a severe risk for anyone using the platform to cross streets and is one misplaced footstep away from a gory situation.

Most of these pedestrian bridges were constructed at the behest of the previous government, to introduce more signal-free corridors in the city, but were rarely used by passers-by.

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In response to which, the former city government later installed iron bars on roads and green belts; forcing pedestrians to use footbridges.

Speaking in the regard, an official of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), said on condition of anonymity, that petty criminals have been involved in nicking iron fences and manhole covers for quite some time. “But these petty criminals, mostly drug addicts looking for easy money, never had the tools to cut such strong iron bars like bridge fencing. It would take them several days to stealthily dislocate rods like such, but now we suspect that the local mafia has started sinking its claws in the crime as well. With the connivance of the police and mafia-granted access to professional tools, they are able to act at a much faster rate. The same goes for deforestation in the city, these mafias people can clear entire forests in a matter of days,” he told.

Similarly, KMC Director General Parks Department Junaid Khan also shared that iron theft from green belts and footpaths on major highways has increased in the past few years. “An organised group has been carrying out this operation in wee hours. To address this, the department has decided to plant hedges of bougainvillea and other types of plants along green belts and sidewalks, which will not be a theft threat like iron bars and will also stop traffic,” he opined.

When probed about repairs and responsibility, Karachi Development Authority Traffic Engineering Bureau Centre Director Jamal Siddiqui said that it the duty of the local police to prevent thefts of public property. “However, our responsibility is to repair the unfenced pedestrian bridges, which have been on hold due to lack of funds. Efforts are being made to obtain funds and soon as they are made available, we will begin repairing the city’s footbridges,” he told The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 23^rd, 2021.