Fire hazards in slums

Needed are provisions for safer homes and limination of unregulated housing in ghettos that lack basic facilities

Five residents living in shanties were victims of yet another tragedy to strike the informal housing style. A fire — the cause of which is currently under investigation — burnt alive the dwellers who had built their abodes on a vacant plot in Gulstan-e-Jauhar, Karachi. The owner of the plot remains unidentified. Katchi abadis all over the country provide an affordable alternative to exorbitant costs of non-slum property. This housing style is more suitable for that significant section of the population that is classified as living below the poverty line. Because poverty and the issue of slum-dwelling are ubiquitous across provinces and cities, the federal, provincial and local governments would serve the country well by taking urgent steps to provide safe, sustainable and affordable housing so as to protect residents from hazardous living conditions.

Needed are provisions for safer homes and the elimination of unregulated and informal housing in ghettos that lack basic facilities. In a report studying adult mortality in the slum areas of Karachi, it was found that maternal causes and burns, along with disease, were among top causes for excess female mortality. Burns were attributed to unsafe cooking practices, such as stoves placed on the ground used while wearing loose clothing, a violation of standard safe cooking practices. Maternal causes point to the lack of basic affordable medical facilities in slum areas. We also have to consider the practice of builders destroying or burning down huts in slums so as to use the land for commercial development. The problems of slum dwellers will continue until people can build homes and comfortable lives on their salaries. The affordability gap between the upper and lower echelons will always be present, but incomes need to be raised to a dignified level. This is an area where the government must intervene through reforms, like raising the minimum wage and monitoring payrolls that violate minimum wage laws. Another way to target unsafe living conditions is through eliminating illegal occupancy on plots. Providing subsidised and more affordable housing options for the majority who cannot bank on comfortable inheritances to sustain themselves is a must.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 2^nd, 2015.

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