Karachi rains: PTI leader lauds NDMA for cleaning '95% of clogged drains'

PTI's parliamentary leader in the Sindh Assembly, Haleem Adil Sheikh, lavished praise on Prime Minister Imran Khan’s initiative to start a clean-up campaign in Karachi after monsoon rains ravaged the metropolis and led to a loss of lives in different rain-related incidents last month.

Sheikh visited parts of the city on Friday, including the Gujjar nullah, to inspect rainwater drainage during the latest monsoon spell. While speaking on the situation in the city during rains, he said that after the Centre’s involvement, the NDMA and Frontier Works Organisation have cleaned up 95% of the main rain drains of Karachi, merely within five days.

The PTI leader said: “Prime Minister Imran Khan has been monitoring Karachi’s situation closely and it is the reason that after the devastation of the last spell of rains, he has given responsibilities to the NDMA and instructed the federal agency’s chairman to arrive in Karachi.”

He further said that the FWO had been given the task to remove sludge and garbage from Gujjar Nala, Korangi and Mowach Goth drains.

Lambasting the PPP government in Sindh, Sheikh said that despite having the resources and mechanisms, such as a water and sewerage board, a solid waste management board and other means, the ruling party in the province did not clean the storm drains before the monsoon.

“It shows their incompetence and apathy towards the city,” he said.

The PTI leader pointed out that after the passage of the 18th Amendment, the responsibility for sanitation issues rests with the provincial government.

“We want to work, but the 18th Amendment is the main hurdle stopping us from working in the city,” he said.

The PTI leader said the Sindh government “needed money only for corruption, not for work and development”.

Sheikh urged the residents of Karachi to ensure that waste material and sewage water does not flow into these drains. “These drains are for rainwater flow only, but unfortunately sewage is flowing into these drains.”

Originally published in The News