Karachi:Even brief rain exposes the so-called preparedness of civic agencies in the megacity and citizens had to face a lot of troubles, said Pasban Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman Altaf Shakoor here Tuesday, adding it is highly regretted that civic facilities of this largest city of Pakistan simply crumble even with a brief shower.
Talking to a delegation of PDP Korangi chapter activists led by city president Abdul Hakim Quaid, he said due to mismanagement, ignorance and corruption the megacity Karachi has become a problematic city regarding its civic issues. He said both the federal and provincial governments are busy in politically point scoring, while the city government is virtually dysfunctional. He said people of Karachi had given vote to Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) in last general elections, but to their utmost disappointment they found that the PTI MPAs and MNAs were as ignorant, ineffective and insensitive towards the public issues as the MPs of PPP and MQM-P.
He said instead of resolving the core civic issues of the megacity, the ruling parties of the Center and Sindh province are busy in photo sessions on cosmetic garbage lifting drive. He said Karachi has been made an orphaned city and all three major parties, PPP, MQM-P and PTI are least interested in resolving the basic civic issues of Karachi on sustainable basis. He said these parties are not focusing to revamp dilapidated drainage system of Karachi which is the main cause of damaging pavements, streets and roads due to overflowing of gutter water and staying of accumulated rainwater in streets for days.
Altaf Shakoor said public transport issue of the megacity has become a perpetual nuisance for Karachiites. He said the federal and provincial governments are not interested in completing lingering project of Green Line, or repairing Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) or running a tram system in Karachi. He said these ruling parties are even not interested to implement the directives of the apex court in this regard. He said millions of commuters of the megacity suffer on daily basis due to corruption, ignorance and inefficiency of PPP and PTI-MQM-P governments.
He said if the public transport system of Karachi is upgraded the economy of the megacity could be boosted by 50percent within no time.
He demanded to give a charter city status to Karachi so that it could be developed and run on sustainable modern lines.