‘Garden East, West being ignored in CM’s drive to clean Karachi’

Water scarcity as well as cleanliness and sanitation issues have been intensifying in Garden East and Garden West, but despite the fact that these neighbourhoods are counted among high tax-paying localities, they are being ignored in the Sindh chief minister’s recently launched campaign to clean Karachi.

These claims were made by a group of councillors elected from different union committees of Garden East and Garden West during a news conference at the Karachi Press Club on Wednesday.

The councillors — which included Samir Qureshi, Gulzar Khawaja, Azam Swati, Ayaz Baloch, Abdul Rauf Baloch, Faisal Hasan Zai and Abdul Rasheed — said their areas were victims of negligence on the part of the provincial, city and district authorities.

They identified the areas of Patel Para, Islam Ganj, Gosht Gali, Tharu Lane, Pedro D’Souza Road, Pakistan Quarters, Gul-e-Rana Colony, Chandni Chowk, Jahangir Road, Baloch Para, Machhli Bazaar, Martin Quarters, Soldier Bazaar, Ghousia Colony and Old Laluketh among others where civic problems have been mounting.

They censured the relevant authorities for their failure to solve them. They also expressed displeasure over these areas being ignored in CM Syed Murad Ali Shah’s clean-up drive currently under way.

The councillors said the locals have been suffering due to damaged roads, a lack of street lights, overflowing sewers and stuffed dustbins. “All of us have been elected as independent candidates and, therefore, we’re not criticising the government and the other relevant authorities on political grounds,” said Qureshi.

He said the Sindh administration and the local government bodies have not carried out any development in their areas, so the councillors installed street lights and bought covers for open manholes after getting financial assistance from affluent figures.

The councillors said that these areas are the oldest settlements of the city, but the neglect on the part of the provincial government and the civic agencies is responsible for making these once beautiful localities resemble slum settlements.

They said rainwater and sewage has submerged almost all the link roads and streets, making these neighbourhoods smell bad and making the lives of the citizens miserable. They also highlighted the issue of water scarcity plaguing their areas.

“The tanker mafia has been stealing our water through illegal boring pumps installed in the areas from Teen Hatti to Old Laluketh, and they sell it to industries located in the SITE Industrial Area,” claimed Qureshi.