The issue of control over water supply to the city between the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) and the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) seemed to be moving towards an amicable solution in the third week of May, 1967. Don’t jump to conclusions yet. Karachiites were still grappling with water shortage (so, it’s a decades’ old problem). Obviously, the authorities concerned were aware of it. They were also aware of the fact that Karachi was expanding at break-neck speed, so they had come up with a Greater Karachi Bulk Water scheme whose first phase had already gone off the ground.

But on May 16, the KDA’s chief engineer told journalists that the government had approved the first part of the second phase of the Bulk Water scheme to get another 25 million gallons of water per day in three years. By 1971, he assured, more than 150 million gallons per day would be available for the city, enough to meet its water requirement.

Easier said than done, though! It’s not just the problem of water scarcity that citizens were to contend with. There were issues of far greater importance related to the health of the people living in the Sindh capital. On May 20, city commissioner Syed Darbar Ali Shah visited the KDA purification plant on COD hills to inspect the bulk water supply arrangement. While listening to the KDA engineers who were informing him about the system, he looked at the pool and found it to be dirty. He pointed that out to an official. As he was about to turn around to move in another direction, the commissioner spotted a rat, a frog and a fish afloat the pool. They were all dead. In the absence of any standard equipment, the decomposed bodies of the animals were scooped out of the giant pool with a pail. The commissioner reprimanded the KDA officials, saying he was ‘disgusted’ to see all of that.

Speaking of equipment (or lack of it), on May 15, the historic Khaliqdina Hall wore a new look because it played host to an exhibition of made-in-Poland tools and implements used in a variety of machines. The display remained open for ten days. On view were textile machines and equipment, workshop tools, welding equipment, metal cutting and electrical tools. The purpose of holding the exhibition was to familiarise Pakistani workers with the latest technological developments in the West.

They say west is west and east is east, never the twain shall meet. The institution of marriage, for example, is seen slightly differently in our part of the world than in the West. On May 18, the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics published the results of its survey on marriage patterns in Karachi carried out on the basis of nikahnamas submitted in 94 union committees of the city. According to the survey, in posh areas (Bath Island, PECHS, Clifton, Garden East) girls got married at an average age 20.2 years while boys at 26.9. In Nazimabad, Clayton Road, Saddar and PIB, the age for girls was 19.1 and for boys 25.2. In Lyari, Chakiwara and Ranchore Lines, girls tied the knot at 18.9 and boys at 25.3. Two years back, in 1965, a similar survey had found that boys and girls got married slightly later than they did in 1962. The change to the increasing trend was attributed to higher education. What’s the situation in 2017? It would be interesting to know the answer to the question.

Published in Dawn, May 15th, 2017