Karachi is drenched, drowned and devastated. This is so because it lacks proper drainage outflow, amid an overall fragile infrastructure. The metropolis is orphan by all means of civic sense. The so-called dogfight between the municipality and the Sindh government over funds has little to do with the 30 million constituents of the urban centre. It is normal to see Karachi in chaos even after a dismal rainfall, causing sewers to burst as they lie choked without any siltation.
Adding to misery, vast swatches of the city are plunged into darkness, besides going without telephone and internet services. The world’s 12th largest city submerges into an abyss of apathy as life comes to a standstill, testing the resilience of its inhabitants. Authorities, nonetheless, go on a disquisition drive in a shameless manner by touring the wrecked conurbation to hide their incompetence and criminal neglect, as many others prefer to lecture on climate change.
It was déjà vu for Karachiites on Tuesday, and on Wednesday too, as monsoon rains lashed across the city, claiming at least a dozen lives. The residents were in an unchecked distress as commutation came to a grinding halt due to traffic mess, inundated streets and arteries, as well as power outage and communication rupture. In any civilised society, this torment with taxpayers belonging to a city that generates more than 65% of national revenue must solicit retribution of those at the helm. Ironically, in our case it is an acceptable-normal, as the citizens have perhaps resigned to their fate. Rather, every disaster comes as an opportunity for authorities to mint a few more millions in the name of fixing the traumatised metropolitan.
The point is, why does this planning fiasco reside with Karachi? This biggest urban center of Pakistan is rather worse than many smaller cities in the country which, at least, stand to nature’s ordeal and have a better-manned civic edifice. It is a foregone conclusion that Karachi is not being governed, it is being pricked by parasites without concern for its subjects. That is why it is left defunct after every downpour.
