Ghani to keep a close eye on water board, SBCA, KMC

Sindh’s local government minister has stressed the need to make major improvements in the Karachi Water & Sewerage Board (KWSB), the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA), the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) and the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC).

Talking to The News at his office, Saeed Ghani said he has recently taken over the LG department, so for now he would review their performances and then make appropriate changes. He said that at present the working of these bodies is particularly unsatisfactory.

Ghani said the recommendations provided by the Supreme Court-designated judicial commission investigating the non-provision of potable water, proper sanitation facilities and healthy environment to Sindh’s people would be implemented in letter and spirit.

When asked to comment on Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar’s demand that the KWSB, the SBCA, the KDA and the master plan department should be under the mayor, the LG minister said that such a demand can only be met through amendments by the Sindh Assembly in the LG law.

He said the mayor can demand all he wants, but he has to seek the help of the provincial legislature to have them met, adding that before making any demands, the mayor should take a look at his performance.

Ghani listed the deplorable conditions of the city’s parks and hospitals as well as the roads and streets that are strewn with garbage as Akhtar’s failings. He said the KMC is unable to generate revenue, which shows how poorly the body is performing, so before criticising the Sindh government, one should take a look at their own performance. The mayor is unable to stop the rampant corruption in the KMC, added the minister.

Ghani asked what Akhtar and his Muttahida Qaumi Movement had achieved as regards the Karachi Building Control Authority and the KWSB when his then party colleague Mustafa Kamal was the city mayor.

The minister said the provincial government gives them Rs500 million a month to disburse salaries and the chief minister has provided them with development funds. He asked if the mayor can show any development project or other work on which these funds have been spent.

Responding to a question regarding the mayor’s renewed demand of CM Syed Murad Ali Shah to provide him with authority and funds, Ghani said Akhtar already has all the powers under the Sindh Local Government Ordinance 2013.

The minister said the people keep complaining to him about the deplorable conditions of roads and streets across the city where heaps of garbage have been dumped.

He said that when the KMC had failed to lift garbage and sought the help of Bahria Town Chairman Malik Riaz, he had helped only because of former Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari, as he had quoted in his speech that Zardari is his close friend and had asked him to help lift garbage from District Central.

A day earlier Ghani had rejected the claim of opposition political parties that the provincial government’s figure of offal removal was exaggerated, and reiterated that 41,980 tonnes of sacrificial animal remains were lifted and disposed of by Karachi’s municipal agencies during the three days of Eidul Azha.

Addressing a news conference at the media cell of the Pakistan Peoples Party, he said that around a million animals were sacrificed this Eidul Azha across the metropolis in the areas that do not fall under the jurisdiction of the different cantonment boards.

Ghani said that according to the results of the latest population census, Karachi comprises about three million families. “Some 33 per cent of the families living in the city sacrificed animals this time, and the number of animals whose offal we lifted corresponds to this estimate.”

He said that those with objections over the government’s figure should object to similar statistics of other cities. He added that some 44,000 tonnes of remains were lifted in Lahore, so it is implausible that around 66 per cent of the families living in Pakistan’s second largest city sacrificed animals.

The minister said that in Peshawar around 9,500 tonnes of remains were allegedly disposed of, meaning that up to 97 per cent of the families living in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s capital sacrificed animals.

“According to [Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Karachi chief] Firdous Shamim Naqvi, the city’s people sacrificed fewer animals than the offal lifted. So, instead of questioning our very plausible figure, he should challenge the number of Peshawar.”

Ghani advised the leaders of the opposition Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) that instead of embroiling themselves in an undue controversy, they should at least check with the Central District Municipal Corporation (DMC) chairman, who is affiliated with their own party.

The minister said that according to the figure provided by the Central DMC, some 437,000 animals were sacrificed in District Central alone. He asked MQM leader Khawaja Izharul Hassan to inquire about it from his party’s local government representatives.

Ghani thanked the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board, Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar, chairmen of the different DMCs, the Karachi District Council, other municipal agencies and local government employees for their respective roles in the operation to lift and dispose of offal and other remains of sacrificial animals.

He claimed that barring a few areas, the operation had been completed. He said that there were a few complaints regarding the clean-up operation, but the overall sanitary situation remained promising and would be improved further.