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PRESS
RELEASE & NEWS ARTICLES ON URC FORUMS
Helmet
use can prevent 50 pc of accidents
Use
of helmets can prevent 45 to 50 percent of road accidents, according to Dr
Rashid Juma, eminent neurosurgeon and executive director, Jinnah
Post-Graduate Medical Centre (JPMC).
Delivering
a lecture on Friday under the auspices of Urban Resource Centre (URC), a
non-governmental organisation, he said as many as 850 people died in road
accidents in Karachi in 2007 and about 500 of them were motorcyclists.
He
said nowhere in the world were motorcyclists allowed to drive without
helmets and the law in Pakistan too bound motorcyclists to wear helmets but
unfortunately it was not implemented.
He
said many accidents in Karachi occurred because of faulty construction of
bridges and flyovers. He said the cause analyses of these accidents
indicated that 84.30 per cent of them occurred due to the faults of road
users, 13.34 per cent due to environmental factors, and 2.30 due to
vehicular faults. He said the proportion of accidents had also increased in
the city because angular faults flyovers.
“Instead
of giving out contracts for the construction of bridges and flyovers, they
should be constructed by qualified civil engineers,” he remarked.
He
said besides several “black spots” in the city where accidents took
place, there were as many as 921 accidents on National Highway between
September 2006 and July 2007. These claimed 52 lives, he added.
Many
of the accidents took place due to encroachments, deteriorated condition of
road shoulders, illegal parking, unloading activity, and absence of pavement
parking and guide signs.
He
said pedestrians were the second most vulnerable group and statistics showed
that 22 per cent injuries and 38 deaths were within this group. The most
vulnerable were pedestrians under 16 (12.80 percent) or over 51 (6.70 per
cent), he added.
He
said critical issues were failure to wear helmets, overspeeding, lack of
pedestrian facilities, failure to halt buses at designated bus stops, lack
of safety measures in areas where construction was going on, and poor
visibility.
He
said many accidents occurred on Korangi Road due to water dripping from the
water tankers and trucks carrying fishmeal. He said police should ensure
that only those tankers and trucks were allowed to ply the roads that had
secured valves.
Buses
and heavy vehicles, he said, should be driven only by well-trained drivers
and buses should halt at designated bus stops only.
Dr
Juma’s recommendations included making helmet use mandatory, improved
motorbike riding skills, rigorous enforcement of rules and regulations, and
implementation of a mass transit system in the city.
He
said motorway police should be deployed on all highways.
He
said most of the accidents on Korangi Road occurred due to the absence of
street lights, sand loading activity, absence of medians, and poor condition
of road shoulders.
He
said surveys showed that many accidents took place on account of buses
plying on two routes and whenever they were issued warnings, the number of
accidents fell.
He
said at Lyari Railway Station and the TCF School, a lack of fencing was the
main cause of accidents.
He
said road safety audits were being made in collaboration with City District
Government, Karachi (CDGK) but unfortunately the latter did not have the
required staff strength.
(The
NEWS, 09/02/2008)
Flaws
in mega projects’ planning highlighted
Karachi: Most of the mega projects are planned without the consent of
citizens and without conducting proper environmental and socio-economic
studies.
Social scientist and expert Naseer Memon highlighted this at the forum of
Urban Resource Centre (URC) here on Wednesday. “That is why the projects
that start as a hype end up as failure leaving the country under the huge
burden of loans,” he remarked while speaking about the socio-economic and
environmental impacts of the mega projects.
As an example of such highly funded projects in the drainage sector, he gave
a detailed presentation on the Left Bank Outfall Drain Project (LBOD) that
commenced in 1984 with the aim to provide safe disposal of effluent from the
districts of Sindh into the sea.
That project was mainly funded by the World Bank (WB) and the Asian
Development Bank. “Although the project was initiated at an estimated cost
of Rs8.5 billion, it ended up with over 31 billion expenditure,” he
pointed out while disclosing that the outfall was designed and executed
without proper consultation with stakeholders.
The most viable option was rejected in that project on political account and
a 42km long Tidal Link Canal was built as the spinal drain of the project.
Besides, an embankment with 4.5ft height and 1800ft wide Cholri Weir were
built to maintain water level in lakes.
The weir collapsed in 1998 while a disastrous cyclone in 1999 caused 54
breaches in the embankment of the tidal link, leaving it completely
irreparable. As a result of the destroyed link canal, seawater found a
regular inlet into lake system, as a result local drains started
back-flowing towards land.
When the Inspection Panel of the World Bank was approached in September
2004, they investigated the issue and submitted a report in July 2006,
pointing out a number of natural factors that were previously neglected.
The bank wanted to compensate the affected people through two new projects -
Coastal Area Development Program (CADP) and Water Sector Improvement Project
(WISP). Both CADP and WSIP are financed under WB loans of US$ 90 million and
US$ 140 million, respectively, which are not compensation but additional
loans.
Concluding his presentation, Naseer Memon laid stress on the need of such
projects that not only encounter the problems of citizens but must also not
cause additional liabilities (in the form of loans) that would be paid off
by none other than the citizens of this country.
(The
News, 17/01/2008)
Traffic
police launch drive against over-speeding
Traffic
police have been instructed to impose section 279 on the drivers for
over-speeding with effect from April 15. The Deputy Inspector General of
Police (Traffic), Karachi, Wajid Ali Khan Durrani issued this instruction
while taking notice of 29 fatal accidents that took place in one month
alone.
“This would be a special drive to control speed violations,” he said.
However, he maintained that initially two vehicles with a device to check
speed violations would be deployed at Mai Kolachi and Sunset Boulevard and
later at Korangi Road where accidents occur more frequently due to over
speeding.
Durrani was talking to an open forum on Wednesday at the office of Urban
Resource Centre, an NGO that holds discussions on civic issues. He briefed
the forum regarding the solutions he had proposed to higher authorities and
the progress made so far in this regard. He said that he was working to
induct 2,000 officers, passed from public service commission. He also
proposed increasing salaries of traffic personnel and giving them some
incentives that might help minimize corruption and yield good results.
He emphasized on the provision of Mass Transit System, saying, flyovers and
underpasses would not solve the problem since a big city like Karachi where
both population and vehicle growth was always on the rise should have proper
Mass Transit System be it by means of buses or trains. He also stressed the
need for deploying latest equipment and traffic control devices without
which it would be difficult for his men to work efficiently.
Responding to a question regarding the recruitment of women traffic wardens,
he said: “In the present situation where people often quarrel with
policemen and even beat them, it won’t be a good idea to bring women”.
Giving an example, he said there were cases when traffic sergeants were shot
or hit with speeding vehicles while performing their duties. “This
attitude of public doesn’t favour women recruitment. We can do it later
once the new force is inducted and situation changes, for which we have been
working,” he added.
Earlier, Durrani gave a detailed presentation on traffic and transport
problems, hindrances on the part of other stakeholders and the current
capability of the department.
“In 2002, some 84 vehicles per day were added to traffic and that ratio
has now reached 544 vehicles a day,” he informed, adding: “1.8mn
vehicles are plying in the city while there are only 1,200 to 1,300
policemen to control and regulate traffic.”
He further said that only 20,000 buses were plying in Karachi which happens
to be the seventh biggest city of the world in terms of population.
(The
News-14, 17/04/2008)
LG
system ruining democracy: Ghani
KARACHI:
The local government system has traumatised the democracy in
Pakistan as it has caused lethal damages to the provincial autonomy because
the city nazim or the district government with unlimited powers have
challenged the writ of the executive of the province.
A
sheer example of this phenomenon could be elicited from a case that a
teacher who had been transferred to the city from the interior Sindh was not
allowed to join the city’s school because the nazim had not given the
approval, despite the fact that the Sindh chief minister had
ordered to do so. Such a situation proves the tarnishing effect of the LG
system.
There
is an urgent need that the system should be reviewed and rational
amendments be introduced so that the true spirit of the LG system would be
saved. The Leader of the Opposition in the City Council and General
Secretary Pakistan People’s Party, Karachi, Saeed Ghani,
stated this while addressing a workshop organised by the Urban Resource
Centre on Wednesday.
He
regretted that the LG system had empowered the city nazim to bar the CM from
inaugurating any development project on the pretext that it was developed by
the CDGK. He said it was an undeniable fact that local bodies’ elections
held in 2001 were completely opposed and boycotted under claims that the
system was against the people but today they have been advocating for the
existence of the ugly LG system without any change.
He added that the LG system has failed to serve the masses as billions and
trillions of rupees have been spent on flyovers and signal free corridors
while citizens of the city are still looking for potable water. They have
wasted public money instead they should have rather used these funds for the
establishment of schools, hospitals and should have ensured availability of
the basic needs of the citizens.
He added that in the past the mayor had to chair the City Council
session and answer the House, but the ongoing LG system has exempted
the city nazim while the City Council has no powers except to table and pass
resolutions. The role and powers of the city naib nazim are
self-explanatory. He explained that as far as section 140-A of
the Constitution of Pakistan was concerned contrary to their
claims, it was not part of the constitution but was introduced later through
the Legal Framework Order by a dictator.
He said that section demands accountability, transparency, and participation
of the masses at grass root level but the ongoing LG system is completely
void of these salient requirements due to centralisation of powers.
He said the LG system needs to be revamped and the local
governments and nazims should not be given unlimited powers but their
role should be extremely limited so that they could perform according to
their capabilities.
Ghani added the LG system should only be limited to a few departments such
as water and sewerage, road construction, parks and playgrounds.
He said the local governments should not be given charge of
education, health and major development projects because this involves the
present and future of the nation.
(By
Irfan Aligi, DailyTimes, 08/10/2009)
LG
system likely to be wrapped up by 16th
KARACHI,
Oct 7: The local government system is likely to be wrapped up in Sindh by
Oct 16, with the appointment of administrators shortly afterwards in place
of town and district nazims to run the affairs of local government
institutions till the next local bodies elections.
This was said by the leader of the opposition in the city district council,
Saeed Ghani, while speaking to journalists after delivering a lecture on the
local government system at the Urban Resource Centre on
Wednesday.
Mr Ghani, who is also the Karachi division general secretary of the Pakistan
People’s Party, further revealed that amendments being made to the Sindh Local
Government Ordinance, 2001 contained a number of proposals such as carving
out six or more districts in Karachi and the revival of the
commissioner system in the province.
Asked if there would be six or more district governments in Karachi and a
similar number of district nazims once the amendments pertaining to the
creation of more districts in the city was made to the SLGO, 2001, he
replied in the affirmative.
“Isn’t it illogical that Karachi which prior to the introduction of the
new local government system was a division and had five districts was turned
into just one district, while four districts were carved out
in Hyderabad division, two districts each in Larkana and Dadu
division?” he questioned.
In reply to a query about the elections schedule, Mr Ghani said that the
elections could be held as soon as the proposed amendments to the SLGO, 2001
were approved by the Sindh Assembly.
He said that the Sindh government had tabled a bill in the
assembly for cancellation of all illegal allotment and occupation of amenity
plots, including parks and playgrounds since 1994. But, the PPP’s
coalition partner in the provincial government had been opposing the passage
of the bill on the grounds that cancellation of such plots should be made
effective from the date the bill was adopted by the assembly, he
added.
The local government system in other three provinces might be done away with
as there was a general consensus against it, the PPP leader said. However,
he reiterated, the present local government system in Sindh would stay with
some amendments made to the SLGO, 2001.
While delivering a lecture on the local government system at the URC
earlier, he said that while provincial government departments had been
devolved to city district governments under the Local Government
Ordinance, 2001, the devolution of federal government
departments to the provinces could not take place.
He said that the city governments should not be overburdened with so many
departments, adding that functions pertaining to water, sewerage, drainage,
traffic management, road network, parks and playgrounds should be the
subjects of the city governments. All other departments, including education
and health, should not be devolved at all, he said.
He said that although the local government system functioned as democracy’s
nursery, it was ironical that all the three local government systems had
been introduced in the country during the regimes of Ayub Khan,
Zia-ul-Haq and Pervez Musharraf.
He was, however, of the view that the 1979 local government system was
better than the present local government system because in the former
system, the city’s mayor and city council members used to have
representation in the Karachi Port Trust, Railways and the
Karachi Electric Supply Company.
“Isn’t it a major flaw in the present local government system that the
nazims of districts and towns, who are indirectly elected, have been
delegated financial powers, while the nazims and members of union councils
who are elected directly do not enjoy such powers?” he posed a
question.
Mr Ghani said the city government claimed to have undertaken a number of
mega projects in Karachi, but unfortunately the projects were never
discussed in the city council.
URC Joint Director Zahid Farooq moderated the programme.
(By
Azizullah Sharif, Daily Dawn, 08/10/2009)
Spare
of thought for the street children
KARACHI
: It has been two years since the National Child Protection Bill was lying
with the Islamic Ideological Council for review after it was tabled before
the parliament, and the government continues to make false promises as to
when it will be implemented. This was stated by Initiator Human Development
Foundation (IHDF) President Rana Asif Habib, while presenting details of his
work on
Karachi
’s street children at the Urban Resource Centre.
“Even though
Pakistan
is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on Child Rights for the past
21 years, nothing substantial has been done for the improvement of the state
of children by any government because people who are a part of planning
commissions pertaining to children’s issues have little knowledge of the
dimensions of these problems themselves,” he added.
According to Habib, it is estimated that there are over 15,000 children in
Karachi
who live on the streets and another 500,000 who work on the streets but have
shelters of some kind to go to when night falls. A survey he conducted in
the towns of Gulberg, Jamshed and Saddar revealed that 45 percent of street
children are beggars, whereas others are involved in selling drugs, shop
lifting, pick pocketing and working as commercial sex workers; among other
odd jobs such as serving at small restaurants, garbage-picking, car washing
and polishing shoes.
Habib also pointed out that a large percentage of these children are
sexually active in one way or the other, with 57 percent of the total
involved in sex with consent and 34 percent forced into it, adding that only
as little as 9 percent of children are not sexually abused at all.
He further said according to responses collected from street children, it
was observed that more than 30 percent of the sexually abused children
alleged their perpetrators were police officials.
“Females form five percent of street children, and most of them are sent
off to beg, to work as commercial sex workers in other cities, or are sold
for as low as Rs 5,000 under the garb of getting them ‘married’ from
where they can be taken to people’s homes to work as domestic workers,”
told Rana.
During the question and answer session, the IHDF president pressed on the
need for government involvement in working for the welfare of street
children, along with active community participation from citizens.
People were particularly urged to not stigmatise street children just
because they have landed on the city’s streets to live in conditions that
involve drug use, disease, poverty, criminal coercion, sexual abuse and road
accidents.
(By
Haya Fatima Iqbal , DailyTimes-B1, 27/05/2010)
URC
hosted a seminar on environmental pollution. PHOTO
KARACHI
: “If
the birds are in trouble then it means that very soon, we will be in
trouble,” warned Dr Iqbal Saeed Khan, the former director of the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), at a seminar on Thursday.
The
seminar, held at the Urban Resource Centre, saw several panelists speak on
the different factors destroying our environment and what should be done
about it.
“Birds
and frogs are an indicator of our environment,” Dr Khan continued, “And
if frogs are getting extinct that means our biodiversity is getting
extinct.”
Solid
waste
“One
man generates about half a kilogramme of solid waste per day,” he said.
From the slums of the city to the most developed areas, there are heaps and
piles of garbage and organic and inorganic solid waste that has no place to
be dumped in or outside the city. “There is no landfill anywhere in
Pakistan
,” he pointed out, “One was to be made near
Rawalpindi
but the project stopped after the earthquake tragedy in 2005.”
Karachi
’s solid waste is dumped in the outskirts of the city near some villages,
from where the toxins accumulate and seep through the soil thus polluting
our water and lines, he said.
Highlighting
multiple environmental issues, Dr Khan stressed that the government needs to
do more to overcome the problems and to raise public awareness.
The
rain drains in the city are now covered with heaps of solid waste that not
only pollute the surrounding areas but are usually so tightly packed that
they choke the drains.
Meanwhile,
the
Lyari
River
, which was one of the city’s rain drains, now has houses built on its
banks, lamented the doctor.
Hospital
and industrial waste
The
city has around 500 hospitals and none of them have a proper waste disposal
mechanism.
“We
dump 400 million tons of water in the sea without treatment,” said Dr
Khan, “The amount is even greater than that deposited in
India
’s
Ganges
River
.”
He
said that industrial waste is one of the biggest environmental pollutants.
“There are almost 4,000 industrial units in the city that discharge about
2,000 toxic chemical by-products.”
These
by-products are not just destroying the environment but are directly
affecting people living in industrial areas,” Dr Khan told The
Express Tribune.
He
said that the environment is being degraded day by day due to haphazard
growth, poverty and non implementation of existing laws.
These
are the reasons that despite producing less waste than several developed
countries like the
US
,
UK
,
France
and
Germany
, our country is suffering more from pollution than they are.
Supporting
his observations, Ahmed Khan Sheedai, a social worker in Awami Colony, near
Korangi, told The
Express Tribune that
there are people who have had to shift due to these hazards. Citing a
personal example, Sheedai explained how a cardboard factory in the area was
diffusing dust in the air and causing eye allergies among the residents.
“All the residents united and complained about that factory, which was
later closed with the cooperation of the CDGK.”
According
to Dr Khan, public awareness is the key requirement to fight the looming
environmental disaster that can have long standing effects on our future
generations.
The
300 laws on environment are futile since the authorities do not implement
them and the public is simply not aware of their existence, he added.
Ghulam
Kibria, coordinator of a private NGO, National Forum for Environment and
Health, said that they go to schools and get students to participate in
plantation projects. “We believe that spreading awareness at a young
age is the solution to a pollution-free environment,” he said.
(By Samia
Saleem, Daily Tribune Express, 11/06/2010)
Environment
protection practices in city in shambles’
KARACHI
: Around 400 million gallons of sewage water are dumped into the sea
everyday in
Karachi
, which itself is a record that no other city in the world has been able to
break. Also, since 1947, not a single landfill site has been constructed in
the city.
Such eye-opening facts were presented by former Sindh Environmental
Protection Agency director general Dr Iqbal Saeed Khan, at the Urban
Resource Centre on Thursday.
Dr Khan, in his talk titled “Environmental Protection in
Karachi
- The Current Situation and Way Forward” told the audience that
environment protection practices in
Karachi
are in shambles, not just due to a lack of awareness among all stakeholders
but also because of rampant corruption at the highest levels of government.
According to the speaker, “The four main causes of air pollution in the
mega city are pollutant-emitting vehicles; followed by use and burning of
plastics and polythene which release extremely harmful dioxins; industries;
and the rampant use of power generators.”
Describing preventable environmental offenses, he informed that about
100,000 two-stroke engine rickshaws generate un-burnt fuel on a daily basis
in the city, producing solid particulates of engine oil that are inhaled by
us.
Moreover, approximately 100,000 child scavengers working in the city are
prone to diseases by picking up all kind of waste with bare hands, including
highly hazardous hospital waste.
Also, a major problem highlighted by Dr Khan was the continuous mixing of
sewage water with drinking water in various parts of the city. Referring to
the recent rains in
Karachi
, he said that because of the ugly transformation of natural storm water
drains into sewage drains, and construction of pakka houses over water
bodies such as the
Lyari
River
, well-water beneath the land’s surface was being polluted. He also
described how polluted water resulted in gastrointestinal diseases, and how
the use of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in the manufacturing of
pesticides and insecticides which are used on crops remain in the food chain
and consequently reach the human body to produce cancers.
Suggesting ways to improve this situation in general, he urged the
authorities to do away with outdated and less-detailed laws in order to
bring in more efficient laws which are relevant with the dynamics of the
modern world. He also said that the environment tribunal in Sindh must
function more professionally.
“We should not pass on torn forests, unclean water bodies, dirty seas, and
diseased genes to our future generations at any cost,” Dr Khan concluded.
(By
Haya Fatima Iqbal, DailyTimes-B1, 11/06/2010)
Joint
efforts stressed to protect environment
KARACHI
, June 10: An expert on environmental issues and conservation activities
stressed on Thursday the need to apply social pressures against polluters
for the safety of future generations.
A former director general of the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa),
Dr Iqbal Saeed Khan, was speaking at a forum organised by the Urban Resource
Centre. He said that every citizen of the country, be it a common man or a
high-profile corporate boss, should realise the importance of safe physical
and natural environment and help curb the massive and diverse environmental
degradation taking place both in the rural and urban areas, particularly in
Sindh.
“Our environmental monitors and activists should know that among many
shortcomings on their parts, the holding of information and not hearing the
people who suffer physically, mentally, socially or economically at the
hands of polluters or due to poor environmental practices was also
tantamount to committing a crime or corruption,” Mr Khan said.
A bachelor in medicine and master in environmental science, in his public
awareness lecture he also highlighted the burning of about a dozen children
a few years back in SITE due to careless dumping of toxic materials in a
playground by the nearby industrialists, and claimed that he was removed
from Sepa to please the offending industrialists.
He said non-governmental organisations, community-based organisations,
government organisations and the media should join hands to address
environmental issues and true enforcement of environmental laws in
Karachi
and other parts of the country.
The awareness about environment was indispensable for the motivation of
every section of society, which in return paved the way for sustainable
development and befitting and disease-free population, he said.
Discussing the reasons behind a poor response to environment-friendly steps,
the scientist said there was no special curriculum or special training
programme on the environment in most educational institutions,
environment-related laws were either deficient or were hardly applied by
individuals or socially active groups.
Our men and women are equally affected by environmental decay, caused by
persistent organic pollutants, heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium, lead
and chromium discharged by our factories and there was no treatment of
water, air and water bodies, he said, adding that it was unfortunate that
there was not a single scientifically prepared and maintained landfill site
to manage industrial, commercial and municipal solid waste in the country.
Mr Khan said that inadequate solid waste management, wastewater treatment
and industrial water treatment and a lack of incinerators and careless
collection and disposal of hospital wastes were among the problems that
needed the attention of political leaders and policy makers.
(Dawn-13,
11/06/2010)
More
than half of bottled water brands unfit for use
As
many as 12 out of the 22 brands of bottled water sold in Pakistan were
“unsafe for human consumption,” Naeem Sadiq, an activist of Shehri-Citizens
for a Better Environment (Shehri-CBE) said on Wednesday, while citing a 2004
report of the science and technology ministry’s Pakistan Council for
Research in Water Resources (PCRWR).
During a lecture at the office of the Urban Resource Centre (URC), Sadiq
said that these brands were found to be unsafe by none other than the
government of
Pakistan
due to poor microbiological and chemical quality. Small wonder then, that on
December 31, 2004, the Supreme Court of Pakistan was compelled to take a
serious view of the report, he said, adding however, that sadly, one finds
various unsafe brands of bottled water being marketed with impunity in the
impoverished country.
On November 30, 2004, the Sindh High Court (SHC) also made history when it
restrained an international water company from providing water in “
Education
City
” at the
Super Highway
,
Karachi
, for American soldiers fighting the “war on terror” in
Afghanistan
, he said.
Had the SHC not done this, the Gadap aquifer would have been drained,
affecting the lives and livelihood of the local population.
Sadiq said that as many as 200 billion bottles of water were produced across
the world every year for a whopping $50billion business. One liter of
bottled water in
Pakistan
costs 30 times more than the same amount of tap water, he added.
Bottled water means environmental degradation of the worst and involved the
wastage of precious resources, Sadiq said. Around 200 billion plastic
bottles are produced across the world every year and only 20 per cent of
them are re-cycled, which is perhaps why the developed world, which is short
of landfills, has found the developing world to be an ideal dumping ground
of plastic waste, he said.
“Bottled water is one of the biggest scams of our time,” he said. Common
folk and the elite alike are given the impression that bottled water was
“pure” “safe” and “fresh” and has pristine labels — this,
however, is a farce, Sadiq claimed.
Bottled water was first introduced in
Pakistan
in 1968, and amazingly, while the worldwide growth of bottled water was 24
per cent per annum; it was 40 per cent per annum in
Pakistan
, he said, adding that common folk were finding it increasingly difficult to
get water in
Pakistan
.
Four factors push the demand for bottled water: exaggerated fear of tap
water; seduction of mineral water bottles; corruption of the government; and
the greed of the corporate sector, Sadiq said. The Karachi Water &
Sewerage Board (KWSB) has a foreign debt of Rs 42 billion and no donor is
ready to help anymore, he said.
“The plain truth is that there is no water shortage in
Karachi
because it receives 695 million gallons every day,” Sadiq said, adding
however, that a major chunk of this is lost due to theft, pilferage and
faulty lines.
(By
Shahid Husain, The News-13, 14/05/2010)
Karachi
: If
it is not attached to a water dispenser in your house, it is in your bag.
Drinking bottled mineral water has become a status symbol in the city where
people use it without being aware of its quality and side effects, claims
nongovernment organisation Shehri – Citizens for a Better Environment.
Laboratory
tests have proved that none of the bottled water brands offer purity,
nourishment and safety, contrary to their claims on the packages, said Naeem
Sadiq, a member of Shehri, while presenting his research on tap and bottled
water at the Urban Resource Centre,
Karachi
. “Bottled water is one of the biggest scams of the twentyfirst
century,” he said. Twelve out of 22 mineral water brands in
Pakistan
have been providing contaminated water, according to a report by the
Pakistan Council for Research in Water Resources in 2004, Sadiq said.
Another
report issued by the same organisation in 2009 said that 16 out of 22
mineral water brands were involved in the business of selling contaminated
water, he added. “Some companies fill water from taps in Orangi and Landhi.”
“The infamous tap water is not mixed with sewage as it is claimed by these
companies,” Sajid said, adding that a mineral water brand, owned by a
multinational company, has recently admitted to using tap water. There are
many problems with tap water in the city but using mineral water is not the
solution. Rather we should address the issues and guide people, Sadiq said.
“Research
has revealed that consumption of drinking water is increasing by 40 per cent
every year while the provision of clean tap water is decreasing at the same
rate,” he said. According to Sadiq’s research, the issue of shortage of
clean water in the city has been exaggerated so that a “mafia” made up
of the government and big corporations could deprive people of their basic
right to clean water and earn big money, Sadiq said. Moreover, research
carried out by the project director of Orangi Pilot Project, Parveen Rehman,
has also revealed that the water crisis in
Karachi
was manufactured and not real.
According
to Rehman, the city is supplied with 695 million gallons of water every day
out of which 272 million gallons are stolen. Moreover, people living in
informal settlements pay up to Rs100 for every 25 gallons of water, which
Sadiq said, is more than what the wealthier residents of the city pay for
tanker-supplied water.
(By
Fawad Ali Shah, Daily Tribune, 29/04/2010)
Community
integration must for Lyari uplift’
KARACHI: Participants of a discussion on the Lyari Development Package
(LDP), held by the Urban Resource Centre (URC) on Thursday, stressed the
need for community integration for addressing Lyari’s issues including
education.
The event was dedicated to the slain Gutter Baghicha Bachao Tehreek
president, Nisar Hussain Baloch, and was attended by Lyari Development
Programme Managing Director Shafiqur Rehman Paracha, representatives of
local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and community-based
organisations (CBOs) among others.
URC Joint Director Zahid Farooq praised Baloch for his sacrifice and said it
was possible to hope for betterment because of such dedicated people.
The programme started with a multimedia presentation followed by a
discussion about why Lyari was in a dilapidated and neglected state.
Paracha pointed out the various persistent ground realities from Lyari’s
sanitation issues to the current law and order situation that has been
aggravating for the past couple of decades.
He also pointed out vertical expansion in cramped situations to be a major
cause of decay as it not only reduced breathing space, but also the chances
of providing timely relief in case of an emergency. Horizontal resettlement
under these conditions is unavoidable, he added.
He also said other problems included continuous encroachment on open spaces
and general neglect in maintenance of the seven parks and 12 playgrounds in
the locality.
Referring to the love of football, cycling and boxing among the residents of
Lyari, he said it was important to maintain and develop the playgrounds to
promote healthy growth among the youth.
He added that he and his team had involved local sportsmen and their clubs
in the revamping of their playgrounds. He termed community integration as
the basic tool for addressing all the issues in Lyari, especially those of
the education sector.
Citing examples of the existing schools, he said the MM Sadiq School and the
AK Swaleh Mohammad School were in an extremely rundown and neglected state,
but with the assistance of Farhana Iqbal of the Education Foundation, around
200 students have already been trained.
However, Iqbal said it was necessary to integrate teachers of the same
locality to increase ownership as well as accountability.
The programme was followed by an interactive question-and-answer session
where the residents of Lyari expressed their scepticism regarding the LDP.
Representing a local NGO, Aslam Khwaja raised the question of political
commitment towards Lyari and said it was not possible to develop Lyari
without it. In reply, Paracha said, “Performance is needed more than
political commitment to make things work in Lyari.”
URC Chairman Arif Hassan concluded the occasion by asking the audience,
especially the residents of Lyari, to establish a research and development
wing and create a network of NGOs and CBOs, following the example of the
Orangi Pilot Project started by Dr Akhtar Hameed Khan. He said even if such
a network was formed, it would take around two decades for the results to
become visible.
(By
Andaleeb Rizvi, DailyTimes-B1, 14/05/2010)
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