KARACHI - Provincial Ministers Saeed Ghani and Syed Nasir Hussain Shah said on Wednesday that after the recent rains, the way the media was given the impression that Karachi was submerged, nothing happened but this year the situation was much better than last year.
And except for a few low-lying areas, the drainage work was completed within two to two and a half hours of rain. Drainage cleaning was started from July 3 in collaboration with the World Bank and had been completed at 78 choking points of 38 major drains of the city while the rest of the city’s DMC level drains had been cleaned.
The Chief Minister of Sindh has also released special funds for this purpose. No member of the PTI, including the Chawal Wazir, was seen on the streets during the rains. Claiming to clear millions of tons of garbage from drains; Chawal Wazir delivered only 20,000 tons of garbage to the landfill site during the cleanup and the remaining millions of tons he spreaded in the streets and alleys of the city. A private channel was currently playing the role of PTI’s B team and it was misleading the people under an organized conspiracy against the Sindh government.
These views were expressed by the two provincial ministers while addressing a press conference at the Sindh Assembly Auditorium on Wednesday. On this occasion, a documentary was also presented to the media regarding the work of cleaning the drains started by the Local Government Department. On the occasion, Sindh Minister for Information and Local Government Syed Nasir Hussain Shah said that after the recent rains, water accumulated in the low-lying areas of the city and it caused inconvenience to the people.
The situation in Karachi was not like that later. He said that in the past, when it rained so much, the city’s roads were flooded for several days and even the flights and rail system were paralyzed, but this time it did not happen and the city’s main highways, including drainage work was completed in 2 to 2.5 hours as soon as the rains stopped from most areas. However, some areas including Orangi Town, Liaquatabad, Federal B Area, PECHS and other low lying areas were flooded and Drainage work had also been completed through dewatering pumps. “Yesterday, I visited different parts of the city with friends of the media and in Soldier Bazaar, where there was a problem due to overflow of the drain, there were large stones that fell on the pipes of the drain while cleaning the drain,” he said. They were removed. He said that there had been incidents in the past where some conspiratorial groups had been making such moves to gloss over their politics and criticised the PPP government in Sindh and PPP was not only against them then but also now today.
The FIR would be registered and for this, help was also being sought from the CCTV footage of the area. He said that Nazimabad, KDA Chowrangi, Nagan Chowrangi where water came from the hills and due to the green line service in these areas, water had entered the surrounding settlements due to water coming from both sides.
Steps were being taken to prevent this from happening again. “We invite all stakeholders to come to the construction and serve the city together instead of criticizing for the sake of criticism,” he said. On the occasion, Sindh Minister for Education and Labor Saeed Ghani said that after the recent rains, Provincial Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, himself and other cabinet ministers were present on the streets in view of the situation in Karachi but called themselves the claimant and name of the city. No member of the Assembly or elected representative of any other party was seen, including the so-called Chawal Minister.
“I must ask the question whether the Prime Minister formed more than four committees for Karachi in his two-year tenure, but what happened to those committees,” he said. Were any funds given to these committees, did these committees do anything for Karachi? Yes, it so happened that the elected members of the National Assembly were given the task of disbursing the funds within a month and they installed sewerage and water lines in the city without any permission and without informing anyone. They dug and did this work during the monsoon rains while development work was not done especially in this season. Saeed Ghani said that incompetent PTI minister and his MNAs had created more problems for Karachi. He further said that work was underway on Mahmoodabad and Gizri drains under this year’s ADP and along with cleaning of drains, encroachments on its sides were to be eliminated and wall and road were to be constructed on both sides.
These incompetent Chawal ministers and the mayor of Karachi have themselves gone there and stopped the operation against encroachments. He said that houses had been constructed on Orangi Town Nalla. As far as Kashmir Mohalla was concerned, constructions had been done along the drain. By breaking the wall of the drain, these people had made their way to the sewerage and water lines and today it was the cause of water entering their houses. To a question, he said that a private channel had made a fuss over a video. “I did not edit this video but this video came through social media and I sent it.” He told that the said channel should tell whether he did not play the role of former President Asif Ali Zardari by playing an edited video. The Sindh government did not spread false and fabricated news about the distribution of rations of Rs 8 billion. He said that a governor of this country was assassinated due to these channels.
He said that this TV and its CEO was playing the role of PTI’s B team and it had also posted posters of Imran Khan on its official website during the election. Saeed Ghani said that this channel was not a neutral channel and if his CEO was interested in such political criticism then he should join PTI. He said that the channel aired that there was some shame, there was some shame. Today they should tell us that they were not ashamed of the way they had tried to please their selected masters with false and fabricated news. “I am threatened that they have the right to take legal action against me, so they must send me a notice. I am not afraid of any notice and blackmailing. I will respond to it, I will also expose the real face of this channel,” he added.
To another question, Nasir Shah said that wherever illegal roads had been dug under the guise of development works, legal action would be taken against them. Asked about the mayor of Karachi, Nasir Shah said that all the district chairmen, including him, were in full touch. However, when they were with us, everything. To another question, he said that all the preparations had been completed for Eid-ul-Adha and the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board and all the districts had made preparations for the removal and disposal of the debris. Efforts were being made to have sacrifices at the UC level in one place and steps were being taken for this. Asked about the resignation of a special assistant to the Prime Minister, Ghani said it was just the beginning. The same would happen to all selected and rental ministers.