KARACHI - The cleanliness campaign that was initiated in three districts of the city, Central, East and Korangi, is yet to cast an impact in terms of improving cleanliness in these areas.

Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhter, vowing to give a neat and clean look to the three districts, had launched the drive on December 1 last year, but despite the passage of 82 days it is still to bear fruits.

During this period, the mayor was seen complaining about the non-availability of funds and powers.

And the result is that the drive has failed to improve situation in these areas as evident by the scattered garbage and poor sewerage system.

Later, in order to address the concerns of Wasim, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah directed divisional and district administrations to assist the mayor in the cleanliness drive, but the DMCs did not take much interest in achieving this task.

On the other hand, Karachiites had welcomed the 100-day campaign, launched by the Wasim in three districts of the city, and it was believed that he and his team would bring at least some change in the condition of the city.

However, despite hopes pinned by the citizens, no major change has been witnessed on the ground.

However, the mayor, on different forums, kept claiming that the ongoing cleanliness drive was in full swing and most areas of the three districts had been cleaned.

He also claimed that various development projects had also been launched in these areas.

A senior official of KMC told this scribe on condition of anonymity that during the last 82 days, only 18 percent of garbage had been removed while a big chunk of these districts was still littered with heaps of garbage at different points.

The official said that District Municipal Corporations (DMCs) were unable to lift the garbage due to lack of funds and other resources.

The official informed that the major reason for garbage’s presence was the conflict between Solid Waste Management Board (SWMB) and Karachi Metropolitan Corporation over garbage lifting.

“Although the Board says it is responsible for disposing of the garbage, it does not fulfill its responsibility and also creates hurdles in the way of DMCs and KMC,” the source added.

It is worth mentioning here that the provincial government had released a handsome fund of Rs3billion to the Solid Waste Management Board for garbage lifting from two districts of the city, but the garbage lifting work has not started as yet.