Karachi: The phrases and idioms in any language are mainly coined to transmit a message containing wisdom.
In the English language, the phrase ‘A rainy day’ means a probable moment in which money will be needed, unexpectedly. This can also suggest that, although rain, in a certain way, has romantic connotations and well, it can also bring a series of difficulties. The latter seems to be suitable for karachiitas.
Each time, and it has been happening for years, it rains strongly in the city, citizens are complaining of at least some things: nervous traffic jams, damaged roads, sudden appearance of potholes and puddles, stagnant rainwater on roads and streets and energy failure.
The energy failure, surely, in turn makes the availability of water provide a big problem because in most of the city’s towns, the water is pumped to pipes through machines administered by electricity. Do not the concerned authorities know?
By interested authorities, one means the agencies responsible for administering Karachi: the provincial government, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, the Cantonment Board, etc.
Every year, during the Monzones, a guilt game begins that ends without a positive or permanent resolution to the problem. On June 27 and 28, heavy rains interrupted life in Karachi in a painful way. Despite the fact that June 28 was a Saturday, when most of the offices were closed, the growl in roads like Sharea Faisal was agonizing. If one was in the southern district of the direction towards the airport, it took at least two hours to move from the Rotunda of the Metropole Hotel to the Dright Road railway station.
As if it were an understandable consequence of the interference of nature in the daily life of the karachiitas, there were reports of a breakdown of prolonged power on June 28.
The disillow of the greatest drains has not yet been completed by kmc
In phase V DHA, for example, electricity went to Kaput in the afternoon and was restored at 4 am in the same way, enough blocks in Gulistan-I-Jauhar, Federal B, North Nazimabad, suffered energy closures for up to 10 hours.
The worrying thing is that the monsoon season has arrived early (since it usually begins in July). Do the authorities have planned the situation? One cannot be sure.
What adds to concern is that in some places, for example, from Jail Road to NIFUE, construction work has been happening for many months. If the rains are largely reduced in July, these projects can be affected. Nobody knows how much money has been invested in the realization of these underground steps, aerial bridges and new roads. Whatever the amount that is, they must protect themselves from the unparalleled interventions. In addition, one expects construction work to be completed as soon as possible because it is already a mass traffic problem.
However, it must be said that the only step that the KMC has given, in terms of preparing in advance for the rains, is that a few days ago the corporation had begun the process of cleaning the drains of rainwater in the city.
The mayor of Karachi, Murtaza Wahab, the same process during which he had said: “In addition to the 46 main drains, the smaller drains are also being cleaned. A joint strategy will be used to guarantee the drainage of rainwater in all to work.”
Everything sounds good. But, until now, all drains have not been cleaned.
The clouds, as the month of July appears, seem sinister. Citizens are likely to face a wet station. And if preventive measures are not taken in their entirety, karachiites are in a laborious time.
Posted in Dawn, July 5, 2025
