August 24, 2020)
President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum and All Karachi Industrial Alliance and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Monday said Karachi is financial, commercial and industrial capital of Pakistan which is being ignored for decades.
The country will rise and fall with Karachi which is contributing 67 percent of total revenue, therefore, it should get due attention while the provision of water, electricity, and gas should be ensured, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that center, provinces and city administration is in the continued struggle to get hold of Karachi which has damaged the city beyond repair while political struggle has made the life of people a living hell.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that those behind the destruction of the city should be held accountable as the incompetence of important departments, pathetic infrastructure, rampant corruption, street crimes and other issues have made it impossible to live in this megacity.
He noted that K-Electric, Water Board, KMC, Building Control Authority and other institutions have become totally dysfunctional while businesses and masses are paying the price. The recent rains have exposed all the concerned departments while the long duration of announced and unannounced load-shedding has taken a toll on everything.
Industries are deprived of electricity, gas, and water while streets and roads are submerged in rain and gutter water. There are no doctors and medicines in hospitals and there is no system of spraying against insects and germs to save the lives of masses.
The roads, pipelines, bridges, and other infrastructure in the industrial areas have collapsed and most of the development works is on the paper only. Land grabbing is as rampant as street crimes and law enforcement agencies are promoting crimes for petty gains. He said that there should be a mechanism in which all the concerned departments could work together to make Karachi liveable again.
