‘LG law doesn’t bar appointing person with political background Karachi administrator’

Sindh Law and Environment Adviser Barrister Murtaza Wahab has said the provincial Local Government Act doesn’t bar appointment of a person having a political background as administrator of Karachi.

The adviser, who himself is tipped as new administrator of the city, made this observation while speaking at a press conference at the Sindh Assembly building on Tuesday. Governor Imran Ismail and other leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf have stiffly opposed Wahab’s likely appointment as Karachi’s administrator, saying that it violates an understanding earlier reached between the Sindh and federal governments on municipal affairs of the city.

Barrister Wahab, who also acts as a spokesman for the Sindh government, recalled at the press conference that in the past persons like the late Mushahidullah Khan and Fahim Zaman had served as administrator of the city.

He said that earlier the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s government in Punjab had not let the elected leadership of the municipal agencies in the province complete their lawful term. He said the elected mayor of Islamabad had met a similar fate at the hands of the PTI’s government.

Barrister Wahab claimed that no area of Karachi had experienced inundation due to the accumulation of rainwater after the city received the first monsoon showers on Monday.

He said the municipal administration of the city had timely become functional to deal with any rain emergency situation due to rain despite the fact that there was no prior rain forecast issued by the Meteorological Department.

He said personnel of the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board, district municipal corporations and traffic police were fully alert to tackle any emergency situation anywhere in the city in the aftermath of the rain.

Barrister Wahab expressed gratitude to all the civic agencies for actively performing their duties to provide instant relief to the people.

He informed media persons that the Sindh government had laid a new drainage line all along Sharea Faisal for quick disposal of rainwater to avoid flooding on the main artery of the city that had happened in the previous monsoons. He added that rainwater quickly drained out from the entire stretch of Sharea Faisal on the previous day owing to the drainage work of the government.

He said that drainage situation around the birthplace of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Wazir Mansion, on MA Jinnah Road and II Chundrigar Road had remained quite satisfactory after the first spell of monsoon rain. He said the government had especially upgraded the drainage system around the Wazir Mansion to avoid inundation of the locality in the old city area. He said that similarly Shahrah-e-Pakistan, Nazimabad and Mauripur were also quickly cleared of rainwater.

The law adviser expressed gratitude to the federally run Sindh Infrastructure Development Company Ltd for creating new drainage outlets to avoid inundation of KDA Chowrangi, as a result of rain, along the route of the under-construction Green Line Bus Rapid Transit project.

No final decision yet

Minister for Information and Local Government Syed Nasir Hussain Shah has said the government had started cleaning small and large storm water drains of Karachi on May 20 this year.

So far 7.2 million tons of garbage has been shifted to the landfill sites, and the government has made all preparations to cope with any situation in the monsoon season, said the minister in a statement on Tuesday.

He said all the relevant agencies, including the KMC, DMCs, the KWSB, the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board and the KDA, had been mobilised and all choking points of the storm water drains cleared.

He said Barrister Murtaza Wahab was seen on the streets and some people felt that he was being appointed an administrator. Barrister Wahab's option for administrator had been under consideration for some time, but no final decision had been taken in this regard.

“If Murtaza Wahab agrees for the administrator’s slot, this would be better for Karachi,” the minister said, adding that the government had prepared a complete plan for the local bodies elections, and on the directives of Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, more powers were being given to the local bodies.