Mayor asks Sindh to provide more machinery for cleaning of drains

Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar on Wednesday directed his subordinates to expedite the cleaning of rain drains and asked the Sindh government to increase the number of machinery so that the task could be completed at the earliest.

Currently, 40 excavators and 80 dumpers are being used for the cleaning work being jointly carried out by the World Bank, the Sindh government and the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC).

The World Bank has provided a fair amount of money to the Sindh government to carry out the cleaning of drains that were not cleaned since 2018, said the mayor as he visited different areas to review the cleaning work.

Akhtar visited Gujjar Nullah, Qalnadria Chowk, Cafe Piyala and Nazimabad. Chairman DMC Central Rehan Hashmi, KMC Senior Director Coordination Masood Alam, Senior Director Municipal Services Nauman Arshad and other officials accompanied him.

Talking to media, Akhtar said the amount provided by the World Bank should be utilised in a right manner and the target of cleaning work should be achieved for which an increase in the number of machinery was essential.

He said that in a meeting with Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, it was decided that the deputy commissioners would be provided with funds to carry out the cleaning of small drains in each district but the amount was still not released.

He said the district central began the cleaning on its own despite having limited resources but the work could not be carried out in other districts in this way. He urged that chocked points should be fixed at the earliest “or else the people would face difficulties”.

He said water could not be drained out to big drains from small ones as they were chocked and therefore water was overflowing on the roads. The mayor said they were trying to complete the cleaning of small drains at the earliest, adding that the chief minister was approached many times but to no avail.

He said the people could be provided relief through joint efforts and asked the Sindh government to increase the number of machinery so that the work could be completed on time. “Encroachment on Link Nullah in Kausar Niazi Colony has made the cleaning work very difficult,” Akhtar said. He directed that the work should be done manually where machines could not be reached.

The mayor was of the view that the K-Electric didn't seem bothered to resolve issues being faced by Karachiites. He asked the power utility to ensure the presence of its staff and vehicles to fix electric-related issues during the rains for saving humans lives. He asked the citizens to avoid unnecessarily going out of home and to keep themselves away from electric poles.