Half a century back, the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) looked after a little over 300 miles of the city’s roads. What’s the number now? That’s for the corporation to know. On April 20, 1971 it was announced that the KMC would undertake major road repair works in the city with an estimated expenditure of Rs1.8m. The proposed amount was only for six roads in Karachi. They were: Shahrah-i-Nazimabad (from North Nazimabad bridge to Lasbella bridge), Martin Road, Liquatabad (main road), Barness Street (from Lawrence Road to Fakir Mohammad Durra Khan road), Mirza Adam Khan Road and Harris Road.

But the same day, the corporation came under a bit of criticism, too. It was said that a majority of the KMC employees had not been vaccinated against smallpox, despite the fact that the civic body had launched a campaign for vaccination against the disease. On April 21, the media warned that smallpox had assumed the proportion of an epidemic. And yet the total field staff deployed by the KMC for the campaign was 94. With a limited number of vaccinations for the whole city that had a population of more than 3.5m, the drive might not yield necessary results immediately. Health experts pointed out that the effort could not be treated as a mass drive because the disease spread very fast and effective check at the time was not possible. They suggested that the campaign should be launched simultaneously throughout the Sindh capital.

On April 23, a disturbing report revealed that smallpox had claimed 17 lives in Karachi in the last six days. The epidemic which broke out in Moosa Colony had reached other scattered localities. The Epidemic Disease Hospital (EDH) received many patients from Korangi and Landhi, apart from the 100 cases from Moosa Colony. Doctors attributed the high mortality rate (about 40 per cent) to the delayed isolation of the victims. Almost all those who died at the hospital were brought in when the ailment was in its last stage carrying severe complications. None of them had been vaccinated. The same day (April 23), the disease claimed one more life while three more patients were admitted to the EDH. Vaccination, isolation, disease… words that haunt us to date!

On the cultural side of things, on April 24, tributes were paid to Syed Imtiaz Ali Taj, an eminent Urdu critic, short story writer and playwright, at a meeting held under the auspices of the Writers Guild and Writers Club in observance of his first death anniversary (he passed away on April 19, 1970). Poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, who presided over the programme, remarked that although Mr Taj drew inspiration from western literature, he never lost connection with eastern classical literature. The late playwright enriched Urdu literature with new ideas; and even in his day-to-day life he never used a single inappropriate word, he added.

And on April 22, a review of an exhibition of Laila Shahzada’s artworks was published in this newspaper. It highlighted the fact that her new collection of paintings on display at a local hotel was inspired by the Indus Valley Civilisation. Shahzada’s artworks were pleasing to the eye with their soothing colours and easy-to-identify objects. The reviewer called the artist a ‘great colourist’.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2021