Authour: Raviha Memon
Jubilee Market, one of the most famous and oldest markets of Karachi couldn’t withstand the weight of poor infrastructure anymore. Nearly half of the market collapsed as it was built on a drain causing cumbersome problems for the people residing in the area and the ones who owned shops.
The entire market was sealed right after Karachi witnessed such a horrendous incident. Thankfully no lives were lost. This is what happens when proper planning isn’t carried out. Developers all around town have choked the city’s lungs by building concrete buildings at places considered forbidden to have structures on. The Sindh government holds reins for developing Karachi and they have failed to analyze and properly plan the city.
City of lights? More like City of Darkness! Every day the news published has heartbreaking incidents plastered all over. According to the Assistant Commissioner “shops collapsed as they were constructed on a storm water drain.” Just a few months ago we saw how encroachments have played their part in deconstructing all those illegal structures made on draining systems. But then again, the mess they leave behind isn’t cleaned causing further problems to the city.
If only the Sindh Government would have intervened and stopped these illegal constructions and taken serious steps, we wouldn’t have been hit so badly with the monsoon rainfall last year. This city takes the fall for all the non-serious attitude and lack of planning. Karachi is publicly shamed, ridiculed and mocked. Its residents have suffocated it so much that it’s self-harming itself. It seems as if no therapist is coming to rescue it from the massive depression and widespread agony it’s suffering from.
Karachi no longer has the tendency to bear more beatings. It wants to be saved, it is screaming for help and calling upon the experts to pull it from further drowning once and for all. It knows there are massive out there who can help it in returning its long-lost glory but the divisions among the authorities have made it so difficult. In fact, near to impossible! It is like watching a child being bullied constantly and not having anyone to step up for it and help him. It’s like watching him weep, sob and scream on days to watching him go quiet, numb and die a slow death. This is exactly what we are doing to our home town.
We have repeatedly attacked our culture, failed to address the issues, our heritage is left in ruins and what’s left of it is dying a slow but painful death. The Jubilee market incident is an alarming situation. Everyone saw it coming yet no one made an effort to fix it. Who will bear the cost of it? Who should we hold accountable for this? It’s not just the Government and local authorities, it’s us. You and I together made Karachi live from sane to an insane place as Rosenthal put.
This incident is a lesson for all of us to come together on the same page and have a unified vision with proper planning and development. It takes two to tango hence no plan can be made and implemented if all the relative departments aren’t willing to work together. We need to provide a filter to Karachi so its lungs can breathe again. This way the city will flourish and residents will also be able to live a happier life. Long gone will be the stressful days, if losing the city completely doesn’t send shivers down your spine then you have truly failed as a citizen and Karachi deserves what it’s getting!
(The picture doesn’t belong to us. We don’t own any copyrights).
