Wahab as Karachi administrator not at all acceptable: governor

After expressing his opposition on Friday to the likely appointment of Sindh Law and Environment Adviser Barrister Murtaza Wahab as the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) administrator, Sindh Governor Imran Ismail on Saturday reiterated his stance, asserting that making Wahab the city’s administrator was not at all acceptable.

Ismail said this while talking to media persons after he attended a ceremony of the Actors’ Collective Trust Pakistan as the chief guest. The event was held at the Governor House.

The governor again stated that it had been earlier settled that the appointment of the Karachi administrator would be made after mutual consultation. He recalled that a meeting held with Prime Minister Imran Khan in chair and Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and the Karachi corps commander in attendance had decided that no person having a political background would be appointed as the KMC administrator.

Ismail announced that the launch of the federally-funded Green Line Bus Rapid Transit Project in Karachi would not be further delayed. He said the promise made by the government to the people of Karachi in this regard would be fulfilled.

The National Disaster Management Authority had been doing work to de-silt storm water drains of Karachi, he said, adding that the federal government had provided funds for revamping of the storm water drainage network of the city, due to which the city would likely experience a better situation in the current monsoon season.

The governor said he was hopeful that urban flooding would not occur in Karachi during this year’s monsoon rains.

Services of the Frontier Works’ Organisation had also been acquired for the purpose, he stated and added that he had also written a letter to the Sindh CM to save Karachi from destruction due to likely monsoon rains this year.

To a question, Ismail remarked that the Sindh education department should perform its task of catching guilty students involved in using unfair means in the matriculation annual examinations in the province.

He said that students had already suffered much academic loss due to the coronavirus pandemic and the use of unfair means in the examinations deprived the meritorious students of their due rights.

The governor said he firmly believed that Prime Minister Imran Khan possessed the capability of steering the country towards development.

Addressing the ceremony of the Actors’ Collective Trust, the governor said high quality feature films and television dramas helped promote a positive image of the country.

He said that earlier, the trend of plagiarism destroyed the Pakistani film industry, but lately the standard of films and television dramas produced in the country had improved as much as their content reflected the Pakistani culture.

Ismail vowed that he would extend utmost support to promote arts and culture. He urged the participants of the ceremony to play their due part for the cause of welfare of the people belonging to the artistic fraternity.