ON the instructions of Prime Minister Imran Khan, PTI MNA Ali Zaidi launched a federal government-led effort to clean Karachi before the Eid holidays begin. Working alongside the MQM, the Frontier Works Organisation, the National Logistics Cell, and an army of volunteers, the first of the two-stated phases of the operation is to de-silt the city’s multiple drainage sites. Given Karachi’s economic and historical importance — and its undeniable neglect over the years, marred by periodic bloodshed with various groups fighting for supremacy — the cleanliness drive will surely be welcomed by the city’s residents, regardless of who they voted for in the last elections. Karachi’s problem with pollution and waste management came under the spotlight once again after just two days of heavy rainfall, with much of the city experiencing flooding and unnecessary deaths caused by electrocution, highlighting the city’s weak urban planning and poor infrastructure. The flooding that happens time and again after the monsoons was largely blamed on the solid waste that is dumped directly into the city’s natural waterways and drainage systems, blocking the rainwater from trailing into the rivers and then the sea.

The world’s fifth-most populous city is said to generate around 12,000 tons of waste each day, a major cause of disease, but responsibility for collecting and disposing garbage falls on various governing bodies. And so, expectedly, before the rains had even subsided, the finger-pointing that follows each catastrophe to befall the city began, with the Sindh government-controlled water and waste-management bodies bearing the brunt of criticism. While cleanliness drives are necessary, and have been conducted in the past as well, they are short-term, cosmetic solutions to the long-standing, structural problems of waste management. If Karachi belongs to everyone, as is often claimed, then all parties with a stake in the city’s affairs must rise above petty political point-scoring and come together to find long-lasting solutions.

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2019