KARACHI: Labour leaders belonging to the National Trade Union Federation (NTUF) and Home Based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF) announced a struggle for getting resolved the lingering basic problems of Karachi.

Speaking at a press conference here at the Karachi Press Club, they said the megacity generated more tax than any other city of Pakistan.

They said that despite this Karachi was deprived of even basic civic facilities and was not getting funds proportionate to its bulging population.

Its parks, playgrounds, open spaces and plots for schools and colleges were an easy prey for the land mafia backed by local politicians. Its electricity supply system was given to an inexperienced private company plunging the megacity into darkness. Forty per cent of Karachi cannot get piped water and they had to get water through costly tankers, they added.

They said that the recent rains exposed the fragile drainage system of Karachi whose natural waterways and nullahs were either occupied by land-grabbers or filled with garbage.

They said that an efficient public transport entity, the Karachi Transport Corporation (KTC), was disbanded and the surface railway commuting system KCR was left in limbo. “Karachi is perhaps the only megacity of the world that is running without a proper public transport system for the last 50 years.”

They said more than 25 million citizens of Karachi are left at the mercy of private transporters. Health and education facilities are in shambles and the civic administration system almost non-functional. They said if a democratic and empowered local government system was given to the megacity it would need no other aid or package.

They demanded that with consultation of the people an empowered democratic system is given to the people of the megacity to directly elect their mayor.

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2022