EVERY now and then the Sindh government comes with unique plans for some new projects without considering the priorities. Only about a month ago, it came up with a plan to demolish Hotel Metropole and build a family park right in the middle of a road — a plan that will aggravate flow of traffic to and from Sharea Faisal.

Then comes a fresh beautification dream plan for Nahr-i-Khayyam, flowing with sewage, at a cost of Rs1.5 billion.

Only recently Dawn published a report on the dilapidate condition of mega parks such as Benazir Bhutto Park and other parks. Jehangir Park right in the middle of city requires immediate attention too. All these parks also seem to be underutilised.

The deplorable condition of parks in other major cities of province, including Rani Bagh in Hyderabad and Mohammad Bin Qasim Park in Sukkur is worth mentioning.

All these major parks require immediate renovation and maintenance but no attention is being paid for the reasons better known to the government.

The garbage issue in Karachi and other major cities of the province is no secret. This should have been the top priority, not Nahr-i-Khayyam’s beautification, which was recently unveiled by the Sindh government to the media.

I would suggest the media to run a campaign for the priorities to overcome the real problems faced by the citizens.

Khurram Shaikh
Karachi

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2019