KARACHI: Following the successes of I AM Karachi and Fix It campaigns, a Karachiite has come up with a unique way of nudging authorities towards the omnipresence garbage and filth in the metropolis.

A brainchild of social activist Arslan Khan, the Karachi ka kachra campaign highlights the city's garbage crisis in a novel way — by celebrating it.

The idea is simple. Khan and his fellow activists set up a party-like event around mounds of garbage, complete with balloons and drumbeats, to catch the authorities' eyes towards the ironic celebration.This has been aptly titled the 'Kachra festival'.

The widespread garbage in Karachi has become a serious nuisance for provincial and local government authorities as one after another civic campaigner seeks to embarrass them about heaps of filth found lying on the roads.

During the last days of his tenure, the former chief minister Qaim Ali Shah vowed to rid the city of waste within three days but excused himself by saying it was "impossible to clean Karachi in three days".

His successor Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah too announced to get the Karachi cleaned within days. Although some parts of the metropolis were cleaned, no drastic change has been witnessed overall so far.

'One of a kind protest'

Khan took to social media to spread the word about his campaign. The interactive part of the project however, is that Karachiites are invited to upload photos of garbage in their localities. The campaigners then select a locality every week where they take the 'festival'.

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The activists, who refer to their activity as a "one of its kind protest", decorate the selected garbage site with balloons, ribbons and banners to get authorities to act. They also bring a drummer with them to attract even more attention.

When asked about the idea of ‘garbage festival’, Khan said being taxpayer citizens of the country, a clean and healthy environment is a right of Karachiites, but governmental departments have badly failed in removing garbage from the city.

"The seventh largest city in the world has been converted into a huge garbage dump," he remarked.

"This annoying situation coupled with inaction of government officials and political leadership compelled us to start this campaign."

And their "unique and peaceful" manner of protest has indeed turned some heads.

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Khan said he was approached by a sitting minister in the provincial government who offered them to have a meeting with the CM Murad. The activist told Images his team refused politely, urging the minister to get the garbage removed from the city.

“We received an overwhelming response from people through social media and from the residents of areas where we take the festival,” he said.

Talking about their next course of action, Khan said they will hold a photo walk across the city, followed by a photo exhibition, exhibiting the dismal situation of areas where heaps of rubbish has yet to be removed.