KARACHI - Sindh Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani on Saturday thanked the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) and local bodies’ representatives, including Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar, for playing their role in disposal of offal from the city.

He said that offal disposal work was completed across the city. Addressing a press conference along with Adviser to Sindh CM and Senator Murtaza Wahab and other PPP leaders, Ghani said that SSWMB staff lifted offal weighing 41,980 metric tonnes from the city.

“If Khawaja Izhar has problem with my figures he should ask his DMC Central chairman who is saying that 437,000 animals were sacrificed in his area,” he said, adding that an estimated 1 million families brought sacrificial animals to the city, excluding cantonment boards.

He said as per their estimates 33 percent of households in Karachi had sacrificed animals on Eid. “Karachi has three million households as per census that bought 1 million sacrificial animals,” he said. He said that those from PTI who were raising questions about figures should now tell how 44,000 metric tonnes of offal was disposed of in Lahore as compared to over 41,000 metric tonnes in Karachi.

“It means that 60 percent of Lahoriites have sacrificed animals on Eid,” he said and asked as to why no hue and cry was made about these figures from Khawaja Izhar, who said that figures of offal collection in Karachi were exaggerated.

He also asked the PTI leaders who had raised similar queries as to how it was possible that 9500 metric tonnes of offal was collected in Peshawar that shows 97 percent families sacrificing animals. “Now Firdous Shamim Naqvi who said that offal collection figures were exaggerated should respond on this,” he asked the PTI provincial lawmaker.

He also asked MQM-P leader Khawaja Izhar to verify facts from his party’s district chairmen rather than indulging in irrelevant debate. He applauded SSWMB officials and other local bodies officials for performing their duties on Eid days in order to facilitate their fellow citizens. “We have improved and will work for further improvement,” he said.

Meanwhile, responding to a query about reports of qualification of newly-appointed governor of Sindh and PTI leader Imran Ismail, Ghani said although there were no legal hitches but those who are calling for a change should show it with their implementation.