Orangi Town () is a residential town of Orangi District located in the northwestern part of

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

Sindh Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...

, Pakistan. It was named after the sprawling municipality of

Orangi Orangi () is a town in the western part of Karachi, Pakistan, with a population of 596,919 as of the 2023 census. Orangi was developed as a planned settlement in 1972 by the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) to provide affordable housing f ...

. Town system was formed in August 2001 by dissolving Karachi District West as part of the Local Government Ordinance 2001, and was subdivided into 13 union councils. The town system was disbanded in July 2011. Orangi Town was re-organized as part of Orangi District (formerly

Karachi West District Orangi District (formerly Karachi West District), () also (Karachi Gharbi کراچی غربی) is an administrative district of Karachi Division, created in 1972. It is located in the western part of Karachi in the province of Sindh, Pakistan ...

) in March 2015. Orangi Town has a population of 596,919 as of the

2023 Pakistani census The 2023 Census of Pakistan was the detailed enumeration of the Pakistani population and the seventh national census in the country. It was conducted by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. It was also the first ever digital census to be held in ...

History

1960s

Orangi was established as a township in 1965. 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. The township was planned and developed with informal assistance from the city's municipal administration.

1970s

Orangi population rapidly increased during & after

Bangladesh Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War (, ), also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, was an War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalism, Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in East Pakistan, which res ...

in late 1971, following the arrival of thousands of refugees fleeing from the newly independent state of

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

(formerly

East Pakistan East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...

1980s

Orangi became famous in the 1980s when local inhabitants became frustrated at the lack of development in the area by the municipal administration and launched the Orangi Pilot Project under the guidance of

Akhtar Hameed Khan Akhter Hameed Khan (, pronounced ; 15 July 1914 – 9 October 1999) was a Pakistani-Bangladeshi development practitioner and social scientist. He promoted participatory rural development in Pakistan, West Pakistan, Bangladesh, East Pakistan and ...

. The Orangi area was the largest

squatter Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building (usually residential) that the squatter does not Land ownership and tenure, own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estima ...

settlement in

at the time, so the

Karachi Metropolitan Corporation Karachi Metropolitan Corporation () is a public corporation and governing body to provide municipal services in most of Karachi, the capital of Sindh. History 1846 Karachi Conservancy Board was established to control cholera epidemics in ...

(KMC) did not extend services to the Orangi community. The local community financed, designed and built their own low-cost sewerage system.

2000s

The federal government introduced local government reforms

City District Government Karachi The City District Government Karachi (CDGK) was a local government of Karachi, Pakistan. It was established through a local government ordinance (LGO) in 2000 to empower the local government by decentralizing district government. Karachi became ...

in the year 2000, which eliminated the previous "third tier of government" (

administrative divisions Administrative divisions (also administrative units, administrative regions, subnational entities, or constituent states, as well as many similar generic terms) are geographical areas into which a particular independent sovereign state is divi ...

) and replaced it with the fourth tier (

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

). The effect in Karachi was the dissolution of the former

Karachi Division Karachi Division () is an administrative division of the Sindh Province of Pakistan created in December 1960. There are seven districts in Karachi Division. CNIC code of Karachi Division is 42. According to 2023 Pakistani census population of ...

in 2001, and the merging of its five districts to form a new Karachi City-District with eighteen autonomous constituent towns including Orangi Town.

2010s

In 2011 the

was disbanded but remained in place for bureaucratic administration until 2015, when the

system was reintroduced. In 2015, Orangi Town was re-organized as part of Karachi District West.

Demographics

There are several ethnic groups in Orangi sub-division. The total population of Orangi sub-division is 596,919, including 316,870 male and 280,021 female residents as of the

. Religion There are 587,225

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

, 8,733

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

, 793

Hindus Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

, 20

Ahmadiyya Ahmadiyya, officially the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at (AMJ), is an Islamic messianic movement originating in British India in the late 19th century. It was founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835–1908), who said he had been divinely appointed a ...

, 13 scheduled castes, 94

Sikhs Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Sikh'' ...

& 41 others of total population 595,919 of Orangi sub-division.

Town Municipal Corporation

On 29 September 2022

Government of Sindh The Government of Sindh () () is the provincial government of the province of Sindh, Pakistan. Its powers and structure are set out in the provisions of the 1973 Constitution, in which 30 Districts of 7 Divisions under its authority and ju ...

issued a notification of remaining names of Union Committees of Orangi Town, Orangi District of

. 08 Union Committees of Orangi in Town Municipal Corporation

Geographics

Orangi Town is linked to

New Karachi Town New Karachi Town or North Karachi Town () lies in the northern-eastern part of Nazimabad District, Sindh province of Pakistan. It was formed when katchi abadis were resettled following the 1958 coup d'état. Town system was established by C ...

by th north east across the Shahrah-e-Zahid Hussain (New Karachi - Orangi Link Road),

Baldia Town Baldia Town () is an administrative sub-division within Keamari District of Karachi Division in Sindh Province of Pakistan. Baldia Town lies in the western part of the city with a population of 948,399 as of the 2023 Pakistani census. In 20 ...

to the west through Baldia Stadium Road (Farid Colony - Gulshan-e-Ghazi Road) &

North Nazimabad North Nazimabad () is a suburb of Karachi, Pakistan. North Nazimabad was developed in the late 1950s as a residential area for the employees of the federal government of Pakistan, and was named after Khawaja Nazimuddin who was the second Governor- ...

to the east via Kati Pahari (N.Nazimabad - Orangi link road) and also Bacha Khan Flyover. It is also linked to M-10 motorway (also called Northern Bypass) through Shahrah-e-Qaddafi and Orangi link road. There were 13 residential neighborhoods, called union councils within Orangi Town.

Orangi railway station

Transport

The Orange Line - Karachi Metrobus, also known as the Abdul Sattar Edhi Line, is a bus rapid transit line of the Karachi Metrobus in

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. It is the smallest of the five Metrobus lines in the city. The current daily ridership is 3,000. The route goes from Board Office to Gulshan-e-Zia (Orangi Town). It was inaugurated on 10 September 2022. Orange Line - Karachi Metrobus goes from Board Office/Jinnah University to Orangi town TMA office, spanning about 4 kilometers. The line carries around 3,000 passengers daily with a station after every kilometer. Three of the four stations are at ground level, while one is elevated. Each station is 6 meters wide and 70 meters long.

Orangi Town areas

* Baloch Goth * Bilal Colony * Chisti Nagar * Raees Amrohi Colony * Data Nagar * Ghabool Town *

Ghaziabad Ghaziabad () is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and a part of Delhi NCR. It is the administrative headquarters of Ghaziabad district and is the largest city in Western Uttar Pradesh, with a population of 1,729,000. Ghaziaba ...

* Hanifabad *

Haryana Colony Haryana Colony () is a neighbourhood in the Al-Sadaf Colony municipality of Karachi, Pakistan.Iqbal Baloch Colony * Madina Colony * Mohammad Nagar *

Mominabad Mominabad Town () is a neighbourhood in the Orangi municipality of Karachi, Sindh province of Pakistan.Mujahidabad * Shah Khalid Colony * Aligarh Colony * Banarsi Town * Farooq-e-Azam Colony * Ghulfamabad * Gulshan-e-Bahar * Gulshan-e-Zia * Gabol Colony * Iqbal Colony * Islamnagar * Khairabad * Mansoor Nagar * Shahrah-e-Qaddafi * Orangi Town, Sector 1 * Orangi Town, Sector 2 * Orangi Town, Sector 3 * Orangi Town, Sector 4 * Orangi Town, Sector 5 * Orangi Town, Sector 6 * Orangi Town, Sector 7 * Orangi Town, Sector 8 * Orangi Town, Sector 9 * Orangi Town, Sector 10 * Orangi Town, Sector 11½ * Orangi Town, Sector 12 * Orangi Town, Sector 13 * Orangi Town, Sector 14 * Orangi Town, Sector 15 * Orangi Town, Sector 16

Bacha Khan Flyover (Banaras flyover)

The Banaras Flyover is the largest flyover in

. Spanning nearly two kilometers in length and 24 meters in width, it is one of the city's most significant and longest infrastructural projects. The flyover connects

to Sajidabad and Orangi Town, alleviating traffic congestion in one of Karachi's busiest areas. Officially inaugurated in 2012, the flyover had partial access during its construction phase prior to the official opening. Banaras Flyover was built to prevent ethnic violence among two groups and to protect one from the other.

References

External links

Orangi Website
{{coord, 24, 57, N, 66, 58, E, display=title, region:PK_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki Squatting in Pakistan Karachi West District Towns in Karachi