Karachiites urged to raise alarm over civic woes, public services

Experts warn Karachi’s crumbling systems are pushing citizens toward stress, illness and climate vulnerability

KARACHI: Expressing concern over the persisting indifferent attitude of government at all levels, senior citizens, health and environmental experts, and civic activists have urged Karachiites to take a stand against the city’s failing civic and municipal systems before conditions further deteriorate— warning that neglect is already driving many residents towards mental distress and daily misery.

Speaking at a forum, they noted that this year’s monsoon rains had already exposed the city’s fragile infrastructure, and cautioned that unless timely measures are taken to improve essential services — including drinking water, sewerage, sanitation, electricity, healthcare, public transport, roads, and environmental management, along with both ongoing and upcoming projects — Karachi may face severe consequences well before the internationally projected 2050 threshold for major climate-related adversities.

Presenting the agenda in clear terms, Mahmood Alam Khalid, head of environmental publication Farozan that organised the seminar in collaboration with senior members of the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), said that Pakistan, particularly its megacity Karachi, is already confronting the effects of the much-anticipated climate change for which an action timeline of 2030 has been declared. “Sadly, our population is yet to see meaningful action on the ground, beyond verbal assurances and sympathetic statements. Karachi must now demonstrate its awakening through improvements in civic infrastructure and preparedness for natural calamities — including rains, floods, and heatwaves — in order to ensure a peaceful and stress-free daily life for its residents, industries, and trade sectors,” he said.

Mental health risks rising

Speaking as chief guest, Dr Tipu Sultan, senior member of PMA and a medical expert, took serious note of the persistent inadequacies in civic amenities, warning that Karachi is silently approaching a stage where a large segment of its population could suffer from man-made or system-induced mental disorders.

“I have lived in Karachi for 70 years and can say that, even without the added threats of climate change, citizens are already being deprived of their basic rights — education, health, and shelter,” he observed. He added that the city’s situation regarding safe drinking water, sanitation, hygiene, roads, transport, and electricity remains far from satisfactory despite citizens paying taxes and service charges, describing it as a public health concern.

“Living in an environment filled with stress and unrelenting hardships could one day push this city towards collective despair,” Dr Sultan warned. He urged participants to recognise the gravity of this deprivation and take concrete action by pressing for accountability at every level. “We must build awareness and foster collective wisdom, relying on our own expertise, planning, and resources rather than waiting endlessly for foreign aid or external interventions,” he concluded.

Urban planners flag collapse

Urban development expert Mohammad Toheed discussed the existing civic shortcomings at length, highlighting the collapse of urban infrastructures, greenery, drinking water facility, sewage water system, electricity and rainwater drains, particularly in an era when the entire world is concerned over the feared adversities of rains, floods, heatwaves and other natural calamities.

“We have been left to live with choked sewage lines, dilapidated drinking water facilities, with rainwater drains and natural nullahs filled with sewers or solid-wastes, in addition to encroachments, and irritating power supply system –a situation that needs to be addressed on a war-footing basis,” he said.

“At a time when Karachi’s day temperature has been increasing against the internationally defined rates and nights are also getting crucially warmer with the passage of time, with 24 degree temperature during night, things can be turned in our favour provided we are ready to adopt solutions and technologies other cities are applying successfully,” Toheed added.

According to him, the official strategists and planners are good in paperwork, coming up with greater Karachi sewer plans, K-4 drinking water scheme, climate action plans, and host of other initiatives, but are lagging the required practices and drills on the ground to provide practical benefit to the dwellers and their abodes as well as fixing transportation and health system. “We are not ready to check our town and housing developments as to whether they are viable vis-à-vis suitability and sustainability points of view or not, because vested interests are allowed to prevail.”

Activists highlight data gaps

In addition, environmental activist Yasir Hussain complained that policies and actions are made in the absence of evidences and related compatible data, while challenges are mounting, particularly on the infrastructure front. Referencing the prevailing air quality estimates, he said that 60 per cent of air-pollutants were originating from transport, while the overall status too was not ideal in terms of particulate matters in Karachi’s air.

Dr Mirza Azhar, Dr Aftab Ahmad, Talib Katachi and Humer Hashmi also spoke at the forum.

n  This news report was originally published in the weekly Social Track, Karachi.