Karachi: Greenery disappearing from city

[Naveed Yaseen]

By Shahid Hussain
Affinity with Nature always has a soothing effect on humans. Greenery absorbs aggressiveness and leaves a serene atmosphere. No wonder then that civilized nations make it a point to establish parks and plant trees in urban centres to provide recreation and happiness for citizens.

However, one feels jilted when one witnesses that trees are being felled in Karachi while many parks in middle and lower middle class areas have become desolate and transformed into deserts.

Similarly, it comes as a rude shock when amenity plots meant for parks are converted into residential and commercial plots with impunity. “With the ever-increasing number of vehicles on the roads, the total emission from gasoline, diesel oil, LPG and CNG during 2000-2001 was 2,503,791.52 tons/per year. With the rise in the number of vehicles to 1.4 million in 2005, the emissions also rose to 4,741,350 tons,” said a report titled “Feasibility Study and Development of Transportation Control Plan of Karachi” that was prepared for City District Government Karachi (CDGK) under the supervision of Dr Arshad Ali Beg, ex-Director General, Pakistan Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR).

Obviously, pollution is on the rise in the city as elsewhere in Pakistan and in order to combat it, what is urgently needed is to plant trees and establish as many parks as possible. Ideally, the tree cover in a country should be 25 per cent of the population but sadly enough, it is not more than four per cent in Pakistan. In Sindh, including Karachi, it is not more than two per cent. But despite that, authorities are ruthlessly felling trees and transforming the city into a concrete jungle, devoid of aesthetic value.

A massive plantation of broad-leaf trees is needed on roadsides because trees absorb deadly emissions of vehicular traffic and industrial pollution and use it in the process of photosynthesis, said prominent environmentalist and scientist Shams-ul-Haq Memon. Trees are also a part of public and private parks but barring a few, most of the parks in the city are in a terrible shape.

“The CDGK has made many parks and should be appreciated but they are high-maintenance parks. Therefore, prestigious parks are being protected while others are being converted into deserts,” said noted architect and town planner Arif Hasan. “Parks can be developed at low costs if appropriate plantation is carried out,” he pointed out. He regretted that one had to pay a certain amount before entering a decent park in Karachi which inhibits common people from enjoying well maintained parks. In other words, parks in the city face the brunt of class difference.

No wonder people residing in ‘katchi abadis’ and slums, comprising half of city’s population, become violent on the slightest pretext because there is a dearth of civic amenities in these areas and they lack green cover.

Public parks in Karachi include Aisha Park in Gulberg Town, Askari Park in Gulshan Town, Aziz Bhatti Park in Gulshan Town, Bagh Ibne Qasim in Old Clifton, Bagh-e-Jinnah or Frere Hall Gardens in Old Clifton, Beach View Park in Clifton, Boat Basin Park in Boat Basin, Coconut Park in Gulberg Town, Family Park in Gulberg Town, Hasrat Mohani Park in Shah Faisal Town, Hill Park in PECHS, Jheel Park in PECHS, Kidney Hill Park in PECHS, Kite Park at Rehri Goth in Landhi Town, Nishtar Park in Saddar Town, Safari Park in Gulshan Town, Sir Syed Park in Gulberg Town, Talimi Bagh in Gulberg Town, Nisar Shaheed Park in Defence Housing Authority, Zam Zam Park in Defence Housing Authority, Quaid-e-Azam Park in Steel Mills and Quaid-e- Azam mausoleum park at M.A. Jinnah Road. Then there are private parks that charge exorbitantly. These include Aladdin Park at Rashid Minhas Road, Dream World Resort at Super Highway, Jibes Playland in Clifton and Sindbad at Rashid Minhas Road.

Parks and trees also ensures chirping of birds but barring Gulshan-e-Maymar in the outskirts of Karachi where trees have been planted methodically, there are few places in the city where one could hear the sweet voice of cuckoo described by Wordsworth as “the darling of the spring.”

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=161459