- Erratic electricity and now the monsoon
Though the country’s largest city and its only port, Karachi is receiving no special treatment. Indeed, it could be argued that it was being given the short end of the stick, as its civic woes are left to multiply with load shedding woes piling up with the advent of the monsoon. Even before that, Karachi Electric seemed at war with the city, as it engaged in unscheduled load-shedding again for several hours on Saturday, even though it had promised to end such unscheduled breaks. Of course, the breakdowns provoked again a blame game about responsibility, with no one of the various tiers of government (federal, provincial or local) accepting the responsibility assigned to it by the others. Meanwhile, the average citizen continued to swelter as the city continued to have severe power problems.
Then the monsoon also arrived, brining further woes in the form of overflowing gutters, which meant that the water flooding the streets was too often foul. Worse, the water refused to recede as the rains stopped, and the humidity was accompanied by the risk of disease. Luckily, there was no outbreak, even as the coronavirus pandemic continued to rage through the city.
The blame game continued among the three tiers of government. One problem is that all three parties have a share, as the Mayor belongs to the MQM, the provincial government, whose capital it is, was formed by the PPP, while the PTI controls the Centre. All have succumbed to the temptation of blaming the other two for the mess. However, the average Karachite is not at present interested in the fixing of responsibility, as in the solving of its problems. Much will be forgiven if any party is seen as actually doing something to solve what has become an intolerable situation, and that too without any of their electrocutions which had become rife last year, and which were the result of just such a combination of water stagnating in the streets and neglect by K-Electric of the dilapidated state of its infrastructure.
