Karachi, once called the City of Lights, now presents a deeply disturbing picture of worsening poverty and administrative failure. Across major roads and commercial areas, homeless poor and beggars are forced to spend their days and nights on footpaths, turning public walkways into makeshift shelters. This reflects rising unemployment and inflation and has become a serious urban crisis that can no longer be ignored. The absence of sanitation facilities has led to footpaths becoming filthy and unhygienic, making them nearly impossible for common citizens, elderly people, women and children to use safely.
This situation poses grave health risks, spreads disease and severely damages the city’s civic sense and image. Sadly, the departments concerned appear locked in habitual inaction, with no visible coordination between social welfare bodies, municipal services or law-enforcement agencies. Ignoring this crisis is neither humane nor sustainable. Immediate action is required to provide shelters, sanitation facilities, rehabilitation programmes and a clear strategy to restore footpaths to public use, as continued inaction will only deepen poverty and erode public trust in governance.
Mumraiz Khan
Karachi
