KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s new MNA, Akhlaq Hussain, wants the cantonment boards of Clifton and Saddar in the administrative control of the Karachi city government.

His demand is appreciated partly. The board localities must be given in the city government’s unified command. All of them. There are six such boards (mal)functioning in the city, mainly administering civilian populations. Clifton and Saddar may be high tax-yielding areas and apparently perform better than the other four, but those areas too pay more taxes than the (dis)services they receive. A visit to Korangi Crossing, which is managed by the cantonment board of Korangi Creek, will show what I mean. Wherever you go in the locality, dilapidated tracks are called roads. If there are sewers, they are so narrow that they cannot dispose the domestic waste. A couple of pumps are in operation to transfer the sewage to an adjoining open drain. When the pumps develop faults or the operators are not on duty, the lines overflow, providing ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes and flies.

When the last monsoon’s rains washed away the road surfaces, the CBKC put dumper loads of earth to level the roads. The lack of wisdom in doing so was quite apparent to a discerning eye. As was expected, when rain fell again, it made the situation worse with the earth turning the roads into swamps.

While the city government has developed the unplanned old katchi abadis, the conditions in cantonment board localities are pathetic thanks to the cantonment board executive officers, who are often in the process of coming or going. The cantonment board seems to have abandoned the locality altogether except for generating funds. The roads, which had been paved in patches, were washed away by the last year’s rains and are a nightmare for those who drive. There is no water supply except for a fraction of the population. People have laid lines in some areas on self-help basis. But since everyone thinks it their right to tamper with them, they rarely function.

Karachi City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal should request the Centre to give the cantonment board lands under city government control so it can distribute the benefits of development to all corners of the metropolis.