After the rain

The recent rain storms in Karachi were nothing less than a nightmare for citizens. After the torrential downpour, citizens had to face extreme hardship. Commuting became extremely difficult due to urban flooding, which also became the cause of several diseases. There appeared to be a total administrative breakdown and the city became one large swamp and trash dump with no government body willing to step forward and take responsibility.

The negligence and lack of coordination among various civic bodies such as KMC, DMC, Karachi Water & Sewerage Board, etc became evident, and citizens continued to suffer, while all these organizations kept complaining about the lack of resources and authority to overcome this civic dilemma. The need of the hour is for all of them to make combined efforts to provide relief to the citizens. Urban flooding is the biggest problem because it is much more than just an inconvenience. When this occurs around electricity infrastructure, it becomes a death trap and we are witness to countless instances where innocent citizens lost their lives to electrocution because of standing water around electricity poles. This is worsened by the presence of kundas and other issues. Then we have a high number of deaths due to faulty wiring in homes. Why is there no check on this? Why are people issued building permits without a thorough check of their premises and the internal wiring? How many more people will continue to lose their lives due to the negligence of the authorities? Why are there no safety drives or awareness campaigns by the government to educate people about the threats and hazards during rains? I saw the local power utility running such campaigns and warning people about the risks but much more needs to be done.

Gulshan Naz Karachi