24-hour rain emergency control room set up at East DMC office

Sindh Minister for Labour and Human Resources Saeed Ghani has ordered the officials concerned to set up a control room at the office of the East District Municipal Corporation (DMC) with representatives of the relevant agencies to tackle any situation in connection with Karachi’s rain emergency.

Ghani, whom the province’s chief minister has appointed as the focal person for rain emergency in District East, issued the directives to this effect on Sunday during a top-level meeting that he chaired at the office of the district’s deputy commissioner.

The minister said that representatives of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, the East DMC, the cantonment board concerned, the city and traffic police, the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board and other relevant agencies should be at the control room, which will function round the clock, to take all the steps necessary to tackle any situation.

He ordered the officials to adopt all the due corrective measures to ensure swift drainage of rainwater in those areas of the district that had witnessed urban flooding in the past. He said that Karachi receives monsoon rains every year, so the issue of drainage at such troubled spots should be permanently resolved. He added that the monsoon season should not make the people miserable, but rather it should be ensured they are able to get the opportunity to enjoy it as a blessing.

He said that the KMC and the East DMC should work with the Cantonment Board Faisal to ensure the de-silting of the storm water drains in the cantonment’s jurisdiction, including the drain in the Gulistan-e-Jauhar neighbourhood that goes towards Rabia City.

The minister said that the provincial government, together with the KMC and the DMCs, had timely initiated the de-silting of storm water drains in the city in view of the forecast of the heavy monsoon rains likely this year.

East DMC Administrator Rahamtullah Shaikh said that repairs on the drainage system had been carried out on an emergency basis in the areas of University Road, the Safari Park and Nipa Chowrangi before the expected start of the monsoon rains. Shaikh said that the de-watering machinery had been deployed in the low-lying areas of the district that had in the past witnessed accumulation of rainwater.

Ghani, the DC and the administrator later visited different areas of the district, including Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Sharea Faisal, University Road, Nursery and Mehmoodabad, to inspect the rain emergency measures.

Inspection by ministers

Sindh Information and Transport Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon, Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah and Labour Minister Saeed Ghani together made a surprise visit to different areas of Karachi on Saturday to inspect the ongoing desilting of storm water drains before the monsoon rains.

They visited the areas of the Police Headquarters in Garden, II Chundrigar Road, New Chali and Queen’s Road to inspect the desilting of drains by the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation and district municipal corporations.

The ministers said all the relevant civic agencies had been put on high alert before the upcoming monsoon rains. They said relevant officials had been asked to deploy dewatering machinery to avoid the accumulation of rainwater in the low-lying areas of the city.

They said all the required resources would be used by the provincial government to ensure the speedy drainage of the rainwater.

The information and transport minister said monsoon rains were expected in the city in a day or two. He said they had been visiting storm water drains being managed by the KMC and DMCs on the special instructions of the chief minister.

He said the government would do its best to ensure that the citizens shouldn’t face hardships during monsoons.

Memon said the desilting of small and major storm water drains in the city had been timely started this year on the directives of CM to avoid an urban- flooding during the monsoon season. He said some choking points had been identified in storm water drains and due rectification steps were being taken to ensure speedy drainage of rainwater.

The labour minister said the government had been making sure low-lying areas which had witnessed urban flooding in the past shouldn’t face any trouble this time. He also inspected the ongoing work to permanently resolve the drainage problem on II Chundrigar Road that caused urban flooding in the past monsoons.