Malodorous Landmark

The waft of sewage stink greets you as you enter the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Park in Karachi. The paved pathways, the fine-looking boardwalk, the gazebo-like structures are all very impressive but the lingering stench in every part of the park ruins it all. You can’t ignore the horrible smell and end up covering your nose to stop its attack on your finer senses.

I was at the park last week and at the first glance I liked the landscaping and construction, which was up to international standards. There was a linking bridge constructed to join two parts of the park which was left unfinished. The park is located in an ideal area as it is facing Boat Basin with its beatiful view of water on the one side. The back of the park is jammed with a long line of eateries.

The construction cost of the 152-acres park was Rs870 million, according to the Parks and Horticulture Department. The park opened in 2010 and it has changed a lot in these three years. Signs of abuse by the visitors, vandalism and lack of maintenance are too obvious. Revolting paan spits and unsightly wall-chalking are an eyesore. Most of the swings are in bad shape. The outer fence has been broken at some points. But all of this seems so insignificant when you look at the unsightly piles of garbage right outside the park. Standing on the boardwalk, you can view water in the distance but right next to the park’s fence is this pile of garbage. I could notice a plethora of plastic bags, shoes and sandals. The place gave the appearance of the resting place for unwanted shoes.

Once conceived as a pretty place for the young and the old to enjoy, and lovingly constructed by our city fathers, the sprawling park is fast turning into a enormous stinking scar on the city landscape.

I could see a gardener trimming the trees and trying to give a face-lift to the bushes and hedges but there was no effort at all to remove the rising piles of stinking garbage. The park, named after Pakistan’s most loved prime minister, awaits care and maintenance befitting her stature.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 2^nd, 2013.