Facing homelessness
AS you drive along Mauripur Road towards Hawkes Bay, a concrete wall appears about two kilometres from the sea and runs along the road on your left-hand side. After it reaches Hawks Bay Drive, it turns left and continues for another kilometre or so. The area enclosed by the wall contains a number of small fishermen’s villages. Roads are being laid within the area enclosed by the wall, and the nullah that flows through this area has been blocked; the space where the water fanned out from the nullah to the sea has been blocked as well. Much of the area has extensive mangrove forest.
The villages within this area and around it are Brahvi- or Balochi-speaking. They claim that they had been living here well before the British came. Many of their families own small boats in which they go into shallow waters to fish and then take their fish to the many piers along the bay to sell their catch. Others are boat-hands on larger ships that go out into the deep sea. They are paid on a daily basis, or a percentage of the catch.
The retail and wholesale trade in fish is big business for the villagers, but given the unequal relationship between the fishermen and the aartis, the villagers remain poor financially, and are burdened with a ‘culture of poverty’. Most of the villages have no education or health facilities, and those that do, function erratically.
The villagers are terrified. The rumour is that the entire area is part of KDA scheme 42, because of which they will be evicted and their livelihoods will be taken away from them. As a result, they will not only become homeless but also paupers. Rumours are that the area enclosed by the wall will contain multistoried condominiums, clubs and high-end eating places. They argue that if this is true, new people with different skills will replace them.
Again and again, they mention the fact that the agricultural villages have suffered, in the case of Gadap. The residents of Gadap villages have lost everything, including their community and their culture. Many of them have been killed while resisting eviction from their lands. They have become nomads. They claim that they have no one to turn to since these schemes have government, politicians and big money support.
All beaches should be accessible to the fishing communities.
Apart from the livelihood and community-related concerns of the fishing community, the environment of the area will be devastated. Mangrove marshes will disappear and with them the wildlife that WWF has been trying to protect. The noise and intensive human activity that will be generated will make it impossible for the green turtle to breed, and they too will disappear like the flamingos, pangolins, storks, and ducks at the China Creek and Sandspit backwaters.
The coast now consists of posh villas which are increasingly being used as hotels. Originally, the bye-laws permitted only a single-storey hut with a removable roof. This preserved the physical and social environment of the beach. Reverting to this would mean the demolition of tens of villas, which is not possible.
However, we can still try and salvage the situation and prepare special bye-laws and zoning regulations for KDA scheme 42 that stop it from becoming a concrete jungle and which protects the sanctity of the environment, especially of the flora and fauna, and all that is related to it.
It is important to note that in the Karachi master plan 2020, which was approved by the city council, special interest was taken to protect the sea fronts of the city. It was proposed that the flora and fauna of the area, fishing communities, lower- and lower-middle-income Karachiites who throng to the beaches and the persons who serve them, are the major stakeholders of any beach development. Under the KSDP 2020, no reclamation from the sea, mangrove marshes, or mud flats, which are fish and turtle nurseries, and the land they require for survival is permitted. Also, all beaches should be accessible to the fishing communities and the public. No development between the high water mark and 150 metres beyond it, on the seaward side of the coastal road, is permissible.
While the KSDP was being framed, a citizen’s movement for the protection of the beaches was taking place. It has now fizzled out. People are tired for they cannot indefinitely fight the nexus of developers, politicians and bureaucrats. To save the Karachi coastline and its beautiful environment for the citizens of the city, strong institutional arrangements are required that can fight corruption, which has seeped into every aspect of our lives.
The writer is an architect.
Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2024