EVERY now and then, one comes across some report on national media about some minor having his life snuffed out by some open manhole. Our inability to cover the manholes, and then keep them covered, is something that we have not been able to address over time. The lids are stolen by drug addicts in the city who take out their iron rods and sell them to scrap dealers.
This is an old practice and is known to everyone, but no action has been taken against the addicts or the scrap dealers where this scrap is sold. These thieves have become so bold that they are now openly seen removing iron and steel structure, steel railings as well as telephone and electric cables in broad daylight.
After a recent incident of a four-yearold girl drowning in an uncovered sewer at Memon Goth, the Karachi mayor absolved himself and his deputy from the responsibility of disappearing lids.
He actually posed a counter-question to the reporter who had raised the issue, askingifhe or his deputy had stolen the lid. That was a real Wow! moment.
The mayor completely forgot at least in that moment that the political party he belongs to has been actually ruling the province of Sindh for the last more than a decade. And, it is the party, not an individual, that matters.
The mayor`s reply was surely callous and showed his disrespect to the sentiments of the bereaved family.
I wonder how with such an attitude he or his party would `sweep` to victory in the forthcoming general elections.
