June 07, 2007

As a child, I vividly remember playing the Dig Dug arcade game. A most enjoyable way to squander away precious time that could have been used for far more constructive pursuits (like homework), Dig Dug was a simple, yet addictive mainstay of the eighties arcade and video game scene.

The purpose of the game was to dig tunnels and destroy monsters by pumping them with air or dropping giant rocks on them. However, driving around Karachi recently, I was reminded that the road network of this metropolis doesn’t differ too much from the Dig Dug video game landscape.

It seems as if the city government decided to dig the entire city up at the same time. None of Karachi’s 18 towns –– from Gadap in the north to Korangi in the south and from Keamari Town in the west to Bin Qasim in the east –– seems to be immune from this frenzy. If the roads are not dug up, then they’re in such a horrible shape that they don’t qualify to be called roads.

The negative affects this digging is creating on the health of citizens is quite plain to see. Apart from the billowing dust clouds seemingly out of some great sandy desert to the frayed nerves that accompany traffic jams caused by ploughed roads, dug up roads are definitely adding to peoples’ irritability.

Obviously, no one wants to stand in the way of development, progress and the maintenance of the civic infrastructure. But what gets many people’s goose is that there seems to be very little or no planning involved in the process.

Often, different utility companies dig up roads, one after the other. For example if the water board has ploughed a road to lay sewerage lines, barely a few months will pass until the same road is dug up again by the telephone or the gas people. If, simply, there is a little more coordination between the departments concerned, this nuisance can be avoided.

A visitor who arrived in Karachi from abroad a few months ago observed that the first thing that hit him was the amount of dust in the air. Mixed with the diesel fumes and toxic smog that is found in abundance, surely this cannot be good for our respiratory system.

Another facet of the issue is that perhaps there are vested interests at work that benefit from this constant reconstruction of roads that is often carried out at a snail’s pace. For instance, if different utility companies dig up the same road within a short span of time, someone must be making lots of money carrying out the repairs.

Is this mere conjecture, the work of overactive imaginations with conspiratorial leanings? Or is there more than what meets the eye? Perhaps a deeper investigation is needed.

Until then, navigate Karachi’s dug up roads safely and invest in a face mask for the sake of your lungs.