CM blames encroachments on nullahs for rainwater mess

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Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that heavy rains in the city have caused problems but the entire government machinery, including local bodies, are active and on the roads to dispose of the rainwater.He was talking to media during his visit to the city on Tuesday. He was accompanied by Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani, Minister Excise Mukesh Chawla, NED Vice Chancellor Dr Sarosh Lodhi, Commissioner Karachi Iftikhar Shahalwani, Special Secretary Local Government Niaz Soomro and others.The CM said that all major Nullahs in the city had been encroached upon at one place or the other.“The nullahs which are naturally so wide to carry water have been reduced to hardly a few feet because people have established their homes,” he said and added that despite congestion on nullahs the government had cleaned them.The chief minister started his visit from Sharea Faisal and stopped at the turning towards Tariq Road where a wide ditch was caused when the road’s caved in after an underground waterline collapsed.Shah directed MD Water Board Asadullah Khan to repair it urgently; otherwise, rainwater would seep into nearby buildings and damage them.Two begging kidsAt Nursery, two small children, a brother and a sister, were sitting on wheelchairs and were begging.The CM stopped there and affectionately interviewed them. Both were from Jacobabad and seated there by their father. Shah found out that both the children were not disabled but they were pretending that they were. He shifted them to the commissioner’s office and directed the commissioner to summon their father and take an undertaking in writing for not engaging his innocent children in beggary.“If he [the father of children] can’t afford square meals and schooling for them, then I would do that but won’t allow them stretching their small hands before other people for few a few coins,” he said.The CM visited Gulshan-e-Iqbal, opposite Urdu University, Nipa Chowrangi, Safoora Chowrangi, Northern Bypass, the area of Saadi Town, Lyari Nadi along the Sohrab Goth bridge, Gujjar Nullah in Nazimabad and various other parts of the city.He told media persons that the Northern Bypass construction had stopped the smooth flow of rainwater; therefore, water penetrated nearby areas, including Saadi Town and nearby localities.He added that at the site where the Northern Bypass had been established there was a natural waterway. When the Northern Bypass was constructed, appropriate culverts should have been constructed to give way to water but it was not done, he said.Shah directed the VC of the NED University of Engineering & Technology and Special Secretary Local Government Niaz Soomro to conduct a study of the underpass and explore ways and means to give way to water so that nearby localities and the bypass itself could be saved from flooding.To a question, he said that the roads constructed under Karachi Package 1, II and III had service lanes, median walls and a drainage system; therefore, rainwater had drained out from there. He added the roads constructed earlier were not given provision of drainage; therefore, water accumulated and DMCs and deputy commissioners had to install water pumps to clear them.He told the media persons that water had not accumulated in underpasses but even then they were not giving credit for good service. To a question, the CM said that for the last few days ever since the forecast for rains was made he kept visiting choking points; therefore, most of the areas had been cleared of water.He expressed profound grief over electrocution incidents. “I have directed KE to take necessary measures to control the situation,” he said and urged the people to remain at an arm’s length from electric poles and other installations during the rainy season.Shah lauded all civic agencies’ hard work, including the Karachi mayor, in making efforts to resolve the problems of people in the city. To a question, he said that KE could not ensure a proper power supply to the city, and even pumping stations at Dhabeji and Pipri tripped; therefore, the water supply had also been affected in the city.

from The News International - Karachi https://ift.tt/2GB0KaQ
The News International - Karachi