Orangi (Urdu: اورنگی) is a small town in the western part of Karachi, Pakistan, with a population of 596,919 as of the 2023 census.[1] Orangi was developed as a planned settlement in 1972 by the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) to provide affordable housing for lower-income households. The town consists of 13 union councils.[2]
Orangi Town is equipped with essential infrastructure, including roads, schools, colleges, playgrounds. The Orangi Pilot Project created drainage systems and sewage pipes in over 90% of Orangi Town's streets and lanes. Water and gas pipelines are also present; however, the area frequently experiences shortages of both due to supply scarcity.
It is often confused with Karachi's District West, also referred to as Orangi District, which includes several other areas of western Karachi, and has a total population of around 2.6 million.[3]
Orangi was established as a township in this context by 1965.[5] Orangi Township was originally planned over 1,300 acres (530 ha) by the Karachi Development Authority, and many of Karachi's squatter settlements were relocated here.[6] The township was planned and developed with informal assistance from the city's municipal administration.[6]
1970 Era
Its population rapidly increased in late 1971 during & after Bangladeshi Liberation War following the arrival of thousands of refugees Biharis fleeing from the newly independent state of Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan.,[4] and the government began to regard it as a quasi-permanent settlement.[4] However, due to its status as an unofficial and unplanned settlement,[7] Orangi did not qualify for government aid or community assistance, and the area's sanitation was extremely poor.[5] Unofficial administrators emerged and became members and leaders of local political parties.[6]
1980 Era
In the 1980s, as local inhabitants became frustrated at the lack of assistance from the municipal administration, the Orangi Pilot Project was launched under the guidance of Akhtar Hameed Khan,[8] in which the local community financed, designed and built their own low-cost sewerage system.[9] As a result of the sense of ownership, the community maintained the sewerage system and streets itself.[4] Piped water was only introduced to the settlement in 1984,[10] though the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board eventually began providing water supply to the settlement.[10]
Until the early 1980s, most of Orangi's population was Muhajir or Punjabi. The town's demography began to shift in the 1980s as Pashtuns began arriving in the city in large numbers. In 1985, Karachi's ethnic divisions reached Orangi, as Muhajir and Pashtun groups fought over the area near Benaras Chowk and Metro Cinema.[11] In December 1986, Pashtun gunmen attacked the Aligarh Colony, which was home to a vulnerable population of Biharis who had recently been repatriated from Bangladesh.
1990 Era
The municipality was described in a 1999 National Geographic article on Mumbai's Dharavi slum as the "largest shanty town in Asia."[12] Orangi is in fact a lower-class settlement with basic amenities of life available to most of the people. Only some parts of Orangi Town can be characterized as a slum.[13][14] At 57 square kilometres (22 sq mi) in size, it is "significantly less dense than most urban slums and also more structured". In comparison, Dharavi is home to one million people in about 2.5 km2 (1 sq mi).[15] Ninety percent of Orangi's streets are connected to sewage services.[4][16] Ninety-six percent of homes in Orangi have their own private latrine or toilet.[17] Most homes in Orangi feature two or three rooms.[4]
2000 Era
In 2001, Orangi was formally organized and established as a proper part of the city of Karachi and granted its own town council.[18] By 2004, over 90% of households in Orangi were connected to the city's electric grid, although up to 20% of connections were illegal.[6]
Orangi is bordered by New Karachi to the north across the Shahrah-e-Zahid Hussain, Gulberg Town to the east across the Gujjar Nala stream, Liaquatabad Town to the south, and Sindh Industrial and Trading Estate to the west. There are 13 official neighborhoods, each with its own council, which has allowed the township to build its own sewer system.
A Poverty-Alleviation project, called the Orangi Pilot Project, was initiated by Akhtar Hameed Khan in 1980. The project was aimed at socioeconomic development of Orangi.[22] The project comprises a number of programs, including a people's financed and managed low-cost sanitation program,[23] a housing program that assisted in the construction of 93,000 houses,[18] a basic health and family planning program, and a rural development program in the nearby villages.[24] The OPP also helps provide education services, and as a result, the literacy rate in Orangi is higher than the rate in Karachi overall.[18] Along with the Orangi Charitable Trust (OCT),[18] OPP operates a program of supervised credit for small family enterprise units.
The OPP sewer pipes are financed, constructed, and maintained by the families who live on each street,[4] though one-eighth of the cost of services is provided by the municipal government.[25] Pipes are built under the street, with each household contributing $800 to $1000 toward construction of sewer services.[25] "Lane managers" collect dues from households, and arbitrate disputes.[25] The OPP model has been exported to other cities in Sindh and Punjab.[4] OPP has also helped establish Awami tanks, which are underground water cisterns for use in a local area. Many are located under Orangi's mosques and churches.[10]
^Mark Jacobson (May 2007). "Mumbai's Shadow City". National Geographic Magazine. Archived from the original on 21 April 2010. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
^"Fed up with no sewers, Pakistan's slum residents go DIY". Reuters. 13 October 2016. Retrieved 1 April 2020. 96 percent of the settlement's 112,562 households have latrines, with residents footing the total bill for the sewage system of 132,026,807 Pakistani rupees ($1.26 million).
^ abcdeHasan, Arif; Mohib, Masooma (2003). "The Case of Karachi, Pakistan"(PDF). UNDERSTANDING SLUMS: Case Studies for the Global Report on Human Settlements. University College London.
