ONE must give credit when and where it’s due. The Sindh government, so far, has taken good steps to nip the coronavirus spread in the bud. Fifty years back, Karachi’s administrative units were also mindful of such health hazards and often, as has been mentioned before, acted proactively.

For example, smallpox hadn’t yet been eradicated from the world. Pakistan was no different. On March 17, 1970 it was claimed that the worst affected smallpox areas in the city, Landhi and Korangi, had been provided with 35 vaccination centres. Apart from them, the Landhi-Korangi Municipal Committee had arranged 22 vaccinators to be available at doorsteps in the municipal zone. In the previous 15 days, 79,647 people in the vicinity had been vaccinated.

Here’s another example of such health-related efforts: on March 16, the Traffic Advisory Committee decided to divide the city into four sectors with a view to rendering timely help to those who got injured in accidents. Each centre was to be manned by an emergency police squad and a modern ambulance for the critically injured. All cases of neurosurgery would be taken straight to Dr O. V. Jooma, who had recently opened a special centre and acquired an ambulance for the purpose.

As it was often the case in those days, the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC), too, was trying its utmost to make life hassle-free for citizens. On March 17, KMC chairman Abrar Hassan Khan at a meeting assured students of the University of Karachi that the corporation would soon set up bus-stop shelters for the students. The assurance was given to a delegation led by Ejaz Shah Gilani.

Speaking of the student community, on March 15, it was announced at a meeting that various student organisations in the city had decided to form a united body to fight against disruptive forces. An ad hoc committee, which would draft the constitution and manifesto for the body of the like-minded youngsters, was also constituted. While some of the organisations agreed to work in that set-up, others wished to maintain their separate entities, but pledged unstinted support for the proposed body.

On March 20, the corporation was again in the news because it was considering a proposal to enhance the powers of the officers of the KMC’s engineering department to bring them in line with the powers enjoyed by their equivalents in the KDA, PWD and other works departments. The necessity was felt with a view to making maximum use of the funds allocated each year to the works department of the KMC for various projects such as building roads, bridges and amenity buildings.

It wasn’t just the local authorities that were trying to improve living conditions in Karachi. On March 20, it was reported that a Dutch team of sociologists, led by Prof J. W. Schroll of the University of Amsterdam, completed its survey of Azam Basti as part of its programme for slum improvement. The team had prepared a budget for a development project in Azam Basti — population of 13,000 — providing for the badly needed public water taps, a good sewerage system, electricity, metalling of streets, the drainage system, building of clinics, a community centre, a technical school and resettlement of people living in huts.

As far as art activities were concerned, for which the city is known, on March 21, about 10 exquisite flower arrangements were demonstrated to a large number of ikebana-loving ladies. The presentation was given by a Japanese teacher, Yoko-Konishi, who belonged to the Ohara School of Ikebana. She was on her second such visit to Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2020