THE issue of water scarcity in Karachi, as has been mentioned in these pages, was getting out of hand. So much so that on July 8, 1974 it was reported that the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) had increased its demand for water from 1200 to 3000 million gallons daily from the River Indus to meet the city’s rapidly rising requirement. The uncontrollable change in the demography of the Sindh capital and the setting up of Pakistan Steel Mills, Port Qasim and other complexes had caused the demand to go up. The population had already crossed four million. Karachi had been allocated 280 MGD from the river in 1952 on the basis of the then ‘anticipated’ population of three million by the year 2000. It was feared that with the current amount of supply to the city, it would be difficult to meet the industries’ requirements by 1978.

Speaking of numbers, on July 9 the Karachi University Syndicate approved the institute’s budget for 1974-75 showing a deficit of Rs6m. The budget was to be forwarded to the Sindh government for the final approval. The major item of expenditure during 1973-74 was the salaries of 327 teachers, 26 administrative officials and 1,200 lower staff.

This was in the field of education. On the entertainment front, too, things were moving towards the higher side. On July 10, the city’s film lovers were informed by the Pakistan Film Exhibitors Association, Sindh-Balochistan Circle that the rates of admission to all the cinema houses would go further up from July 12. While the ceiling for the highest class had been fixed by the district magistrate at Rs5 per ticket, the lowest was to cost Rs1.50 each. The new ceiling came about in view of the recent increase in entertainment duty.

Entertainment and recreation go hand in hand. The latter includes going to parks and zoos. The same day (July 10), panic gripped the Zoological Garden when a lion escaped from its cage. The animal’s freedom lasted three hours and 45 minutes before he was put back where he belonged. The lion, who was born in captivity in the zoo, injured his keeper, Waheed, who had forgotten to put him in a side enclosure prior to entering the cage to clean it. Waheed was admitted to Ziauddin Shaheed Hospital and was reportedly out of danger.

Another hospital grabbed the headlines that week. On July 12, the media claimed that the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) had finally selected the design prepared by a local firm for the construction of the 250-bed Lyari General Hospital at a cost or Rs4.5crore. Eight companies had come up with their designs, one of which was a French company of architects. Finally, the selection committee — comprising engineers, doctors, architects and administrators — chose the local design.

And on July 13, various development projects relating to Lyari were discussed by the Sindh Chief Minister, Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi in a meeting with the visiting three-member World Bank mission. The delegation, headed by Peter Inglenen, remained with the chief minister for more than half an hour. Administrator Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) M A Majeed was also present on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2024