Comprehensive plan being made for cleanliness in Karachi: adviser

A new cleanliness plan for Karachi is being developed by the Sindh government which will eventually make the city a beautiful and livable place.

This was said on Wednesday by Barrister Murtaza Wahab, the spokesperson for the Sindh government and adviser to the chief minister on law, environment and coastal development. He said the cleanliness drive would be supervised by the CM and the government will eventually make Karachi ‘Uroos-ul-Bilal [the bride of the cities]’.

Wahab explained that after Muharramul Haram, the government would start a comprehensive and scientific planning for the cleanliness drive. Criticising Federal Maritime Affairs Minister Ali Zaidi for his cleanliness drive in Karachi, the Sindh government spokesperson said the federal minister asked people to donate money for his drive but failed to get any funds for it from the federal government, of which he is a part.

Wahab asked the federal government to fulfil the promises it had made to the people of Karachi. He said corruption had been eliminated from the fisheries and now the European Union had allowed fish exports from Pakistan. He added that fishermen would be provided new equipment in order to help boost their trade.

Wahab was told on the occasion that after the installation of a floating jetty, the fishermen would have an easier time handling the goods. Chairman of the Fishermen Cooperative Society Abdul Bar informed him that Rs200 million was given to the Karachi Port Trust by the fisheries department for repair and maintenance and the federal government did not extend any help for it.

The Sindh government spokesperson said the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) believed in providing jobs to the people and it was being punished for it.

‘MQM blocking sewers’

Addressing a news conference on Wednesday, Sindh Information Minister Saeed Ghani said some other elements besides those affiliated with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) were also involved in choking the sewers of the city by throwing rocks and gunny bags into them.

He said the District Municipal Corporation Central chairman had recently confirmed that rocks and gunny bags were being deliberately inserted in the sewage lines in order to choke them up.

He added that since the DMC Central chairman had complained about it, it showed that the mischievous act was being done by someone else as well, besides the MQM. Ghani maintained that the MQM was deliberately trying to disrupt the sewerage system of Karachi in the aftermath of the monsoon rains. He claimed that he had evidence to prove his allegation.

“But what has surprised me more this time is that the chairman of District Central, who belongs to the MQM, also confirms my assertion that gunny bags and rocks are being thrown into the sewerage lines. This shows that this thing is being done by someone else also,” he said. To a question, the information minister replied that not a single member of the Sindh Assembly belonging to the ruling PPP was going to shift their loyalties and such rumours were being spread just to appease the anti-PPP elements.

When asked who should become the acting governor of the province as Sindh Governor Imran Ismail had left Karachi for a foreign visit, Ghani replied that as per the Constitution, the speaker of the provincial assembly automatically became the acting governor in such situations.

It is pertinent to mention here that when the governor had recently gone to Saudi Arabia for Hajj, the federal government had made an attempt to appoint Sindh Assembly

Deputy Speaker Rehana Leghari as the acting governor because the incumbent speaker, Agha Siraj Durrani, is under arrest in connection with a corruption case. The deputy speaker, however, refused to be the acting governor, stating that she could not assume the office of the acting governor with the speaker available in the province.

Ghani also censured the federal government for what he described as the cruel act of denying medical facilities to the seriously ailing incarcerated leaders of the PPP, Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur.

The federal government was a like ‘Nazi regime’, he said, adding that the Centre had no regards for the provisions of the Constitution, law of the land, and directives of the judiciary. He remarked that the present regime was only serious about victimising its political opponents.

He said the two imprisoned leaders of the PPP were being denied hospitalisation despite their serious health status and they had also been deprived of facilities like air conditioner and refrigerator in the jail on their personal expense, despite directives of the judiciary to this effect.

Ghani said the use of such tactics would not deter the PPP from continuing its clear-cut stance in favour of the freedom of media, independence of media, and welfare of the poor masses of the country.

He said the Pakistan Peoples Party had to lose its leaders, including Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto, for its cause but it never bowed before such draconian and undemocratic use of authority.

Information minister Saeed Ghani said that five days had passed since a medical board of the National Accountability Bureau had conducted certain clinical tests of Zardari but their reports were not being given to any of his family member or Pakistan Peoples Party leader.