EDITORIAL: For the umpteenth time, the denizens of Karachi had to endure misery and extreme discomfort on February 3-4, as rain wreaked havoc, intense urban flooding and consequent traffic jams, as well as hours-long power breakdowns, bringing life in the metropolis to a standstill.
The heavy downpour saw many parts of the city submerged, with rainwater entering houses in low-lying areas and even immersing the Green Line track in North Nazimabad.
It is clear that rain-induced chaos has become part and parcel of life in the city, with the tall claims regarding improvement in drainage systems and the efficiency of the relevant departments made by the local and provincial government authorities that have enjoyed power in Sindh for 15 years, sounding utterly hollow.
Scenes of submerged cars and thousands of motorists forced to leave their vehicles on roads as they navigated streets covered by rainwater clearly showed the helplessness of ordinary people. If that was not enough, the collapse of the electricity system only added to the woes of citizens as more than 800 feeders tripped across Karachi, leading to hours-long power breakdowns in many parts of the city.
It has to be noted that Karachi is governed by multiple authorities with not even 50 percent of the city coming under local government jurisdiction, making it a tall ask indeed to expect a uniform disaster management plan for the entire metropolis. Even so, the local government and provincial authorities cannot be absolved of the continued apathy they have displayed over the years, with the same story repeating itself after every bout of rain.
The role of other authorities, however, including the various cantonment boards under whose jurisdiction fall a significant portion of the city, also needs to be taken into account. The so-called upscale localities of DHA were equally exposed to inundation woes, revealing the vulnerability that cuts across socio-economic boundaries.
One cannot help but doubt the extent of the effectiveness of DHA’s much-touted storm water drainage project that was started in the aftermath of disastrous rains back in 2022.
The residents of the locality have spent months navigating dug up roads in the hope that the drainage system that will be put in place as a result would help in preventing a repeat of the scenes that were witnessed during the monsoon season couple of years ago.
That did not entirely come to pass, and it has to be said that rain has always proved to be a great leveler as far as Karachi is concerned, with hardly any neighbourhood in the city remaining protected from its vagaries.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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