Section 144 may be imposed against open dumping of waste

Sindh Local Government Syed Nasir Hussain Shah has hinted at the possible imposition of the Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in Karachi to take due penal action against the instances of open dumping of municipal waste on roadsides in the city.

He talked about the possibility of imposing the Section 144 while addressing a news conference on Wednesday after he chaired a meeting at the Sindh Secretariat attended by representatives of various civic, municipal, and administrative agencies in the city prior to the launch of a new cleanliness drive in Karachi on September 21.

Shah nullified the impression that the upcoming cleanliness drive of Sindh the government in Karachi would end in just one month. He clarified that the one-month deadline had been set for the authorities concerned to catch up on the backlog of municipal waste in the city.

He said makeshift garbage transfer stations would be established in Karachi for the upcoming cleanliness campaign and those stations would be closed after the drive concluded. According to Shah, the relevant quarters in the city had earlier complained about the lack of funds to conduct the cleanliness work, due to which he called a meeting on Wednesday to address the issue.

He claimed that Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar had assured him of his fullest support for the new cleanliness drive. He explained that since the mayor had been out of the country, another official attended the meeting on his behalf.

The local government minister said the chairmen of the union committees in Karachi would also be involved in the cleanliness drive. He added that every deputy commissioner of Karachi had been given Rs50 million for the cleanliness drive.

The local government representatives and civic agencies in the city would be given facilities to the maximum possible extent to conduct the cleanliness campaign, Shah maintained. He said the Sindh government would also renovate the roads in Karachi that had been ruined due to the recent heavy monsoon rains.