KARACHI: Traders on Saturday showed deep concerns over the dilapidated infrastructure, saying the once a luminous city now resembles “the ancient ruins of Mohenjo-Daro”.
They criticized the city mayor for the growing untidiness of the roads and streets despite charging Rs400 a month from every citizen under the head of municipal tax, saying that the metropolis is nearly unliveable.
“Karachi, once known as the “Bride of Cities,” was already in a deteriorated state,” President of the All Pakistan Organization of Small Traders and Cottage Industries Karachi, Mehmood Hamid said that monsoonal rains worsened its condition.
The recent rains have turned the city into the ancient ruins of Mohenjo-Daro, he said that the broken roads inflict injuries on hundreds of citizens, falling into the deep potholes scattered across the metropolis everyday.
Naming a few such roads such as M A Jinnah Road, Burns Road, Shahrah-e-Pakistan, Jahangir Road, and the streets of Old City Area, including Juna Market, Lee Market, and Jodia Bazaar, are all in ruins, with stagnant rainwater still covering many areas.
These roads along several others pose serious difficulties for the movement of heavy vehicles transporting goods for the public as well.
The trade leader expressed his outrage, stating that it is “shameful” to ignore a city that contributes 70 percent of the country’s revenue and 90 percent of the province’s finances.
“Despite this significant contribution, Karachi has been neglected, and the situation is becoming increasingly dire,” he said that there is no authority to recognize the city’s miserable state with unavailability of basic amenities like water, electricity, gas, and sanitation.
The present mayor’s administration has imposed a new municipal tax of Rs400 per month, which is being collected through electricity bills, but fails to clean the city as muck and garbage heaps are all over.
The trade representative pointed out that in the past, municipal bodies would fill potholes before and after rains, but this time there is no trace of such funds.
He called for at least 50 percent of the Motor Vehicle Tax collected from Karachi to be spent on repairing the city’s roads, arguing that this alone could transform the city’s condition.
Mehmood Hamid warned that if the city’s infrastructure is not improved and rainwater continues to stay on the roads in markets, traders will start a protest drive against the mayor.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024