Salahuddin Haider
TRAMWAYS will as
sist introduce a
modern tramcar service within a short time to redecorate Karachi with comfortable means of transport, which in the 50s and 60s was a prestige mode for commuters and school and college going students.
This happy announcement came from no less a person than the Iftikhar Shallwani, former commissioner, and now Administrator for the mega city of Karachi with over 22 million souls and looking for a reliable transport mean/
Speaking at English Union Service, Pakistan at a local hotel Friday evening, he also announced that Plans are afoot to resume the Karachi circular railway, for 14 stations have been picked as starting points, and over above that fleet of modern buses under the name of Green, Yellow and Red lines will also soon be seen in a city, awaiting for such projects since long.
Picking topic: ‘Karachi, epitome of resilience’, Shallwani underlined the need for developing a sense of ownership for the city, a sense of responsibility to keep it clean and green. Shallwani, spending 6 years in Latin America, and learnt the Spanish language as well, narrated an interesting episode that in Argentina, he asked for something from a tea boy.
He was annoyed and told him to leave him alone and let him watch the football match. He was surprised that an ordinary tea boy had so much love for his country’s football team than his business which was his bread and butter. This was a sense of belonging to the city. He was moved by the incident, and when he came home, he often spent lonely hours, brain storming whether such reasoning could be found among his own countrymen.
The Administrator was sad that servants or house maids did not have slightest hesitation in throwing garbage from flats or from houses they worked on streets, caring very little about the filth or unhygienic conditions it would create. He said he visited Frere Hall and found window panes smashed and broken because of a bomb blast in front of the then US consulate there. He ordered new glass window panes to be fixed to restore the semblance of heritage the Imperial building could rightly be boasted about.
As for tramcars, he said Turkish consul general in Karachi called on him, and offered a Turkish tram company joint venture to run tram cars to cover a nine0kilometre distance from Hotel Metropole to PIDC interjection, I I Chiundrgat road to Tower via Shaheen Complex. Work hopefully will start soon on the prestige project. Cities like San Fransisco, and mant other developed cities. Even Dubai and Delhi have metros now.
Like Karachi Circular Railways and K-4 water project were other projects to remove difficulties of people, often complaining of lack of facilities. He said whenever he consulted his staff or colleagues working him about new ideas, they looked aghast, advising him to refrain from that because slight mishandling or carelessness, will reflect poorly on him. But he said he believed in peoples’ resilience which gave him strength and made him much more determined than before. Earlier President of he EUSP Aziz Memon announced that a day-long annual conference will be held in Karachi on Dec 12 for students counseling, improvement, and guidance, followed by a panel discussion, and a dinner later at night for members at the laws of Mr Kalim farooqi’s House. Mr Shallwani was also presented a memento which is regular practice of the organization.
