The Sindh government’s spokesman said on Saturday that the provincial administration will take action to restore the playgrounds of Karachi to their original states if the people help the authorities identify the grounds that are under illegal occupation or being used for any other purpose than what they are intended for.
Barrister Murtaza Wahab, who is also the chief minister’s adviser on law and environment, was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of a sports festival in the Rashid Lateef Cricket Ground in District Korangi of the city.
Wahab said on the occasion that playgrounds in the city had earlier been filled with garbage, but those grounds were now being used for sports and other healthy recreational activities by the citizens.
He said that restoring the playgrounds of Karachi to their original states so they could be used for the very purposes that they had been built for would be like a gift to the people of the city.
He also said that sports and recreational activities will continue to be held in District Korangi, adding that gone are the days when an environment of fear existed across Karachi, as the people of the city are now being provided with opportunities for recreation and healthy entertainment.
The adviser said that the ground being used to hold the sports festival in Korangi had been filled with garbage in the past, but now it was once more being used to hold sporting activities after it was cleaned up.
He said that sporting facilities being restored for public use after the lifting of municipal waste dumped there was one recent example that the administrators appointed by the provincial government to look after the city’s municipal agencies had been doing an excellent job, given the resources available to them.
He praised the services of District Korangi Deputy Commissioner Shaharyar Memon, who also holds the additional charge of administrator of the Korangi District Municipal Corporation, for organising the sports festival for the people of the district.
He lamented that people had been less inclined towards athletics and sporting activities since the advent of the digital media and other modern modes of communication. A walk was also held on the occasion to mark World Diabetes Day.
