Commissioner bans littering, orders cleaning of storm water drains in city

Karachi Commissioner Iftikhar Shallwani visited various storm water drains of the city on Thursday and monitored the cleaning work in them in the wake of intermittent rainfall in the city.

According to a statement issued by the Commissioner Office, Shallwani directed all the six deputy commissioners of the city to monitor the cleaning of the drains in their respective jurisdictions.

“Any hurdle in the cleaning work should be removed by the deputy commissioners,” the commissioner said. He was also briefed by the project director of the World Bank’s project on the nullahs of Karachi, Zubair Channa, and the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation Senior Director Coordination Masood Alam on the issue of choked drains.

The commissioner paid visits to the Pitcher Nullah, Gujjar Nullah and Curli Nullah. The deputy commissioner of District Central, Farhan Ghani, also accompanied him. Shallwani said the authorities needed to expedite the cleaning works of nullahs. “Before the second spell of the monsoon rainfall, the major choking points need to be cleaned,” he stressed.

Channa said the World Bank was cleaning 17 storm water drains of the city. Alam assured the commissioner that the cleaning of the drains would be completed within two months. “The cleaning of nullahs and lifting of filth and garbage is simultaneously being done,” he said. On Friday alone, he pointed out, 160 dumpers transported filth and garbage taken out from the drains to the TP-1 dumping station, while 80 dumpers transported it to the Jam Chakro landfill site.

The commissioner, according to the statement, announced that he would keep visiting the storm water drains on and off until the cleaning work was completed. “Next week, I will pay another visit for monitoring the situation,” he said.

Ban on littering

Shallwani also imposed a ban on littering and throwing garbage out of vehicles at places other than the designated points within the local limits of the Karachi division for a period of 60 days, starting July 8 and ending on September 5.

According to a notification from the Commissioner Office released in the wee hours of Thursday, the deputy commissioners and assistant commissioners of the Karachi division are authorised to take action against the violators in coordination with the senior superintendent of police concerned and get the violators booked under the Section 188 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) in writing at the relevant police station for the violation of the Section 144 of the CrPC.

The decision to take action against littering has been taken after the managing director of the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) wrote a letter to the commissioner on June 30, which stated that the monsoon season was about to commence in the province and the SSWMB had launched an awareness campaign to dissuade the public from littering and dumping waste on unauthorised points.

The waste management board requested for the imposition of a ban on dumping garbage on places other than the designated points.