Centre gears up to help resolve Karachi’s key issues

By News Desk

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has said in the aftermath of the record-breaking downpours a “positive development” has emerged: the federal government, along with the Sindh government, is moving to “immediately act” and resolve three major problems of Karachi.

In a series of tweets on Saturday, he said: “The whole nation feels the pain our people in Karachi are going through.” “However, out of this devastation and suffering, there is now a positive development.”

The issues include cleaning the nullahs “once and for all” and dealing with encroachments impeding water channels; devising a permanent solution to the solid waste disposal and sewerage problems; and resolving the “critical issue” of water supply to the citizens of Karachi.

Meanwhile, President Arif Alvi described the federal government’s decision to resolve the key problems of Karachi in collaboration with the Sindh government as “a positive development”. The President said cooperation between the federal and provincial governments can “do wonders during this devastating crisis”. “This cooperation will also be helpful in the future in making of storm drains, sewage treatment, solid waste management, fresh water supply and transport,” he added.

Their comments came days after record-breaking monsoon rains left 80 people dead across Sindh province, 47 among them from Karachi. Many areas of the city remain without power more than two days after the spell. Roads in underdeveloped localities like Surjani town, as well as upscale areas like DHA, remained inundated, though water in most of the city had receded.

In that respect, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari directed Sindh’s ministers to “stay out on the streets till the last drop of rain water is drained away from every city, town and village of the province”.

Speaking to Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, provincial local government minister Nasir Hussain Shah and public health engineering minister Shabir Bijarani over telephone, the PPP chairman appreciated Sindh’s cabinet members for working on the ground, said a statement on Saturday.

Nasir Shah apprised the party chairman of areas so far cleared of rainwater in Karachi, Hyderabad, Larkana, Sukkur and Mirpurkhas, adding that drainage operations “are in full swing everywhere in the province”.

The public health engineering minister told the PPP chairman that due to an overflowing irrigation system, the drainage was slow in different parts of the province. However, all the resources available with the public health engineering department have been geared up to drain away rainwater besides protecting irrigation canals from developing breaches.

Bilawal asked the chief minister and his cabinet ministers to conduct damage assessments so “timely rehabilitation could be carried out”. The PPP chairman also expressed “deep grief and sorrow” over the loss of lives in Sindh and all over the country and asked the federal and provincial governments to announce adequate compensation for victims who lost their near and dear ones, and for those who lost their livelihoods during the worst monsoon rains witnessed in decades.