KARACHI: Jamshed Nusserwanjee was born on January 7, 1886 in Karachi. He is being fondly remembered on his 134th birth anniversary celebrations, for his high ideals of service to humanity, love for mankind and extraordinary contributions to the city of Karachi, province of Sindh and to Pakistan as a whole.
Jamshed Nusserwanjee was not only known as the ‘Maker of Modern Karachi’ but also as a true son of the soil of Sindh.
He was a member of the Sindh Legislative Assembly and served Sindh well despite pressures from Congress. Jamshed touched very vitally the life of the Province of Sind at numerous points and it should be natural that his name was a household word, particularly among the poor, peasant class, since he was the pioneer of the co-operative movement as well as the founder and the presiding genius of the co-operative banking system in the province. Through this movement, Jamshed was able to do incalculable amount of good to the illiterate, inarticulate peasant class, writhing in the tentacles of the ruthless bania money-lenders and cunning zamindars. The peasant, the humble folks scattered throughout the province, had only heard Jamshed’s name as their saviour and redeemer and they sent up their love and gratitude to him. The evidence of their feelings for him was afforded by the first election in 1937 to the Legislative Assembly of Sindh to which he was elected by these people.
His most significant contribution to Sindh was to act as catalyst in the building of the world’s largest irrigation project in Sindh the Sukkur Barrage. Sukkur Barrage today irrigates 7.63 million acres of land which forms approximately 25 per cent of the total canal irrigated area of the country. The idea of Sukkur Barrage was conceived by Mr C.A. Fife, in 1868. A full feasibility was worked out by him. But no action on the project took place for 55 years. It was the vision and efforts of Jamshed Nusserwanjee that finally the project came to fruition in 1923. At that time Lord Lloyd had initiated and launched the Bombay Reclamation scheme. Sind formed a part of Bombay and when the governor visited Karachi, Jamshed called on him and told him that there existed a readymade scheme for harnessing the Indus and that it had been shelved to rot. He explained to him the merits of the scheme, of the existence of which the governor was unaware. Lord Lloyd was impressed with the proposal and the idea of Sukkur Barrage became a reality.
As mentioned, Jamshed Nusserwanjee is known as the father of modern Karachi. As a young man he was elected councillor of the Karachi Municipal Corporation. He displayed such a profound civic sense and concern for the welfare of the people of Karachi that within a few years he was elected president of the corporation.
He was the first mayor and president of the Karachi Municipal Corporation. During his presidency and mayorship, Karachi turned from a fishing village to a well-planned city and developed economically and socially. Karachi was made the cleanest city in the subcontinent