In the second week of November 1970, the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) was in the news for a few reasons. Actually, the corporation was a pretty efficient unit at the time, as has been established in this column, because it was supposed to deal with most of the civic matters related to the lives of Karachiites. The week began with an announcement on Nov 11, 1970 that the self-occupied plot owners of displaced persons were to be exempted from paying the annual general tax to the KMC. The assessment department of the corporation had proposed that the general tax which was 10 per cent of the total annual rental value of a plot should not be realised on plots the annual value of which was up to Rs540, and was occupied by the owners in Liaquatabad, Lyari, Mahmoodabad, Muslim League Quarters and Liaquat Ashraf Colony. In those days, the KMC was charging tax in such colonies at 23 per cent (hence the proposed 10 per cent). They included general tax, water supply tax, conservancy tax and the fire brigade tax.

This was the time when the corporation was also busy installing automatic traffic signals on the Sindh capital’s main roads. It had recently done that at the intersection of Ziauddin Ahmed and I.I. Chundrigar roads at a cost of Rs25,000, bringing the number of new signals installed to 23. On Nov 11, the KMC said it had plans to install more signals on important road crossings to facilitate smooth flow of traffic for which a sum of Rs250,000 had been allocated in the ongoing year’s budget.

But all was not hunky dory on the corporation front. On Nov 12, Pyarali Allana, a candidate for the Sindh Provincial Assembly election from city constituency No 8, urged the government to dissolve the KMC to ensure free and fair elections in Karachi district. In a statement, Mr Allana alleged that the vice-chairman of the corporation, Ziaullah, who was also a candidate for the forthcoming elections, was misusing his powers and making attempts to further his campaign. He was of the view that Mr Ziaullah should have resigned from his post before deciding to be a candidate but he hadn’t done so.

Although it was not a noteworthy week in terms of socio-cultural goings-on, something strange kept the people of a certain area in Karachi on their toes. On Nov 13, a dog bit 25 people in Ramaswamy. Despite the news spreading quickly and in spite of the animal’s disappearance from the scene, not all of the victims had been properly attended to or cared for. On Nov 15, this newspaper ran a story saying that the canine remained untraced after 36 hours of the incident. The KMC deputed a separate squad to kill the rabid dog or capture it alive but daylong efforts and ‘nightly’ watch by the police ended in failure. Out of the 25 persons who were bitten only 15 turned up at Civil Hospital on Nov 14. Unfortunately treatment was denied to them because of non-availability of the anti-rabid vaccine.

Dog bite and vaccine: two words that are being frequently used by the media even in 2020!

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2020