IT is worrisome that some of the issues our country is faced with have been lingering on for decades causing dissonance in society. A prime example is Karachi’s share in jobs offered by the centre, which some believe is a problem that does not go far, far back. Not true. On March 1, 1971, this newspaper published a report which pointed out that Karachi was still not treated as part of Sindh as far as recruitments in the central government departments were concerned. It was about eight months that the city had become part of the province but the central ministries “treat the two as separate units” when it came to employment.

Twenty per cent of vacancies in the federal services were reserved for recruitments on merit and the remaining were distributed over the provinces on the following basis: East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), 40 per cent; areas comprising Punjab and Bahawalpur, 23 per cent; areas comprising Sindh, Khairpur and NWFP (now KP), 15 per cent; and Karachi, two per cent. Sindh and the NWFP were previously considered backward areas and were bracketed together; the practice still continued although One Unit had been dismembered, the report added.

This was all happening despite the fact the Sindh capital was demographically the largest city of the country which never ceases to surprise us — sometimes pleasantly sometimes not so pleasantly. On March 2, one such surprise took place when a new sulphur spring (or geyser) was discovered about seven miles from the city near Aligarh Town. The discovery was made while excavation was in progress to lay a road link between Aligarh and Orangi towns for buses that moved on a shorter route. A small hillock separated the two townships which was why it was decided to construct a road over the hillock. The digging had almost finished and the road was being leveled when all of a sudden water gushed out from half a dozen spots, eyewitnesses account suggested. It was later found out that the source was natural. The site of the new geyser was close to the already known ‘Manghopir sulphur spring’.

Discovery and destruction sometimes coincide. On March 4, a big fire destroyed a textile mill causing damage to the property including the stocks worth over 7.5million rupees in the Sindh Industrial Trading Estate. The entire fleet of firemen of Karachi assisted by the Karachi Port Trust and Pakistan Air Force fire engines fought the flames for more than eight hours. No casualty was immediately reported.

And from destruction to rebuilding — that’s classic Karachi for you: on March 6, it was announced that the government of Sindh had allocated Rs1.2million for the new buildings and equipment for NED Government Engineering College near the University of Karachi on University Road. The amount mentioned was to be spent during the ongoing financial year (1970-71). A decision was also taken that the Karachi Polytechnic Institute would be further expanded during the year in view of the increasing demand of skilled workers at the foremen level. In all, a sum of Rs98.60 lacs had been assigned for the promotion of technical education in the province.

Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2021